Community lends a helping hand to family as they recuperate from medical issues

Intermountain Catholic

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Janet Healy, a member of the Catholic Business Network, brings a meal to fellow member Cathy Maxwell and her family as Maxwell and her husband recover from recent surgeries. IC photo/Christine Young

DRAPER — The four members of the Maxwell family have had a total of seven major surgeries within a year and the community has come to their aid.

"All the help we’ve received has been priceless," said Allen Maxwell, whose family belongs to Saint John the Baptist Parish.

Cathy Maxwell, his wife, said they are through with surgeries and are beginning to heal. "When we get better, we want to give back for all we’ve received," she said.

Members of the Catholic Business Network, to which Cathy belongs, have provided meals and yard work for the Maxwells.

The surgeries began in June 2010, when Caitlin Hoffman, Allen’s and Cathy’s daughter, had ankle surgery. Then Cathy had an arthroscopy on her shoulder, followed by Allen’s partial shoulder replacement in July. Cathy was in a car accident last August, which left her with a severe neck injury. In November, son Danny Maxwell had a heart study and Caitlin suffered a brain injury.

Two months ago, in May, Cathy had surgery "to build a new neck and replace four discs and Allen had a full knee replacement to repair a congenital defect," she said.

Both Danny and Caitlin attend Juan Diego Catholic High School, where Danny will be a junior and Caitlin will be a sophomore; she is also a cheerleader.

Caitlin’s injury occurred when she was training at a private gym. A spotter missed her and she landed on her face, shattering her nose in five places.

"They stopped the bleeding and had her do the stunt again and the spotter missed her again," said Allen. "She ended up with multiple concussions. She struggled physically, mentally and socially throughout the rest of the school year with daily headaches, loss of concentration and some memory loss. She is a fighter and is finally coming around and was able to attend a cheerleading camp last week."

During Cathy’s surgery on May 4 and Allen’s on May 25, "We relied on our teens to drive us where we needed to go," Allen said. "They both have their driving permits."

CBN President Craig Franco said Cathy shared what was going on with her family at one of the group’s quarterly dinner meetings and he told her if she needed help to let him know.

"About three weeks later, Cathy sent me a request," said Franco. "From June 13 to June 24, we put together a schedule and members have been taking meals over to them each night and we’ve been weeding and doing yard work. When CBN began, there were specific goals we wanted to accomplish and giving back to the community was one of those goals. It’s the kindness and the caring that we have for people that is important."

CBN member Jennifer Hurst said CBN is a network of business professionals who get together on a regular basis to share business practices under a common faith and values.

She met Cathy over a year ago when she was helping with CBN volunteer efforts.

"When Craig reached out and said the Maxwell family needed help with some medical issues, I was certainly happy to return the favor," said Hurst. "I provided dinner for them one evening. You have to give back what you get and Cathy is a great lady and has always been a great advocate/volunteer with CBN and we wanted to return the favor when she needed it the most."

"All the help we’ve received really means a lot," said Allen, who is a member of the St. John the Baptist Middle School board and helped coach lacrosse and basketball.

"The parish has also been good to us and we want to be on the other side of helping," said Cathy.