Counted as a hero, despite herself
Published: January 30, 2007
As Shannon Hickey reflected Wednesday on her experience as a guest of first lady Laura Bush at the president’s State of the Union address the day before, she mentioned she had sat among heroes.
But never once did she count herself among them.
“I don’t even feel worthy at all to be with all those people,” Hickey said. “The president could have chosen anyone. I don’t know why they chose me.”
Her most memorable moment, Hickey said, was when she shook hands with President Bush and the first lady after the speech.
“They treated me with so much respect and dignity,” she said. “I think Mrs. Bush remembered me from went I met them in Willow Grove.”
Hickey had been among a group of people selected to greet President and Mrs. Bush as they stepped off Air Force One in Willow Grove for a 2004 visit here.
At one point Tuesday evening, the first lady did a double take and then smiled and waved when she saw Hickey, the 16-year-old Lancaster Catholic High school student said.
The others — called heroes by Hickey — who sat in the first lady’s box included a Marine Corps sergeant who served two tours in Iraq, the president and chief executive officer of the national center for Missing and Exploited children, a New York man who risked his life to save a man in a subway station and an NBA player who is paying for the construction of a hospital in his native African nation.
“To be put in that category is an awesome honor,” she said. “If I make a difference in one person’s life, every single thing that I’ve done is worth it.”
Hickey was invited to the State of the Union because five years ago she founded an organization that gathers new clothing items for the poor and homeless. She travels with her family to New York four times a year to hand out the items to people in a bread line.
The day after her Washington visit, Hickey faced a full day on only three hours of sleep. She woke at at her East Hempfield home at 5:30 a.m for a live interview with WGAL TV-8 followed by interviews with Fox 43 news and Blueridge Cable.
The Lancaster Catholic 11th grader wanted to make sure she made it to school to deliver a cake for a girlfriend’s birthday, her mother, Kelly Lynch, said.
“She is so level headed,” Lynch said. “She thinks about the future, but she doesn’t worry about it. She lives for the moment.”
And nothing about Tuesday’s moment was lost on Hickey. Even as she enjoyed the excitement of meeting heroes, she grasped he seriousness of the president’s speech.
“I was paying attention to the speech at all times,” she said. “All of the people who help the president run the country and make it what it is were in that room.”
The fact that all of the Congressmen, Senators, Supreme Court Justices, and Cabinet members — except for the Attorney General — were in that room at one time scared her at one point, she said.
“It was a little intimidating,” Hickey said. “I asked my mother if it was safe.”
After her mother reassured her, she went back to enjoying the moment, she said.
One of those moments occurred when she spotted actor Michael J. Fox in the box next to the first lady’s.
“I was about to go over and say hello, but I didn’t get a chance because they moved my seat,” Hickey said.
And then there was her one embarrassing moment of the evening that occurred just after she met NBA star Dikembe Mutombo of the Houston Rockets. The 7-foot-2-inch Mutombo looked like a skyscraper, she said.
“As I was walking out of the White House staring up at him, I didn’t realize a step was coming,” Hickey said. “When I tripped, I didn’t fall on the ground, but I twisted around.”
Secret Service agents and family members came to her aid, she said as she laughed about the incident.
“I will never know if (Mutombo) saw me make an idiot out of myself,” Hickey said. “I hope he didn’t.”
Her favorite moment, besides meeting the Bushes of course, was when she met Wesley Autrey, the New York construction worker who jumped onto subway tracks and saved a man’s life, she said.
Through the experience she met Autrey’s two daughters. They got to know each other so well that one of the girls latched onto her hand and tried to take Hickey with her when the Autreys were on their way in to meet the president and first lady.
“I knew I couldn’t go in there with them, but she wouldn’t let go,” Hickey said. “I finally had to push her hand off mine.”
She and Autrey exchanged e-mail addresses so they could stay in touch, she said.
According to Hickey, Autrey said he plans to help Hickey and her family Sept. 11 when they travel to New York to hand out socks, sneakers and other new items to people in a bread line.
Hickey started Mychal’s Message in 2002 to continue the work of the Rev. Mychal Judge, who was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: