Jean Gorski and her sister Deb were always close. They were eight years apart and growing up, Deb was was like her second mom.
“When I was just a baby, I only wanted her,” says Jean. ”She would come and sing me ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ in my room until I went to sleep. But she would oblige me and go and do that so we were always very, very close.”
A childhood picture of Jean being held by Deb. Growing up, the two sisters were inseparable.
Photo courtesy of Jean Gorski
One summer, Deb had saved Jean’s life.
“We had gone camping as a family, she was twelve, I was four, and we went to the edge of this dock,” recalls Jean. “I remember her warning me to stay away from the slippery wet spots but I completely ignored her. I crouched down to get a better look at something in the water and the next thing I knew, I was underwater.”
Seconds later, Jean felt herself being pulled out of the water as Deb grabbed her by her shirt collar and dragged her up onto the dock.
“She pulled me so hard and so high, she actually set me on my feet on the dock,” laughs Jean. ”And so we told that story all the time about how she had been only 12 but had the presence of mind to pull me out. And she saved my life.”
In March of 1999, Jean and her family received news that Deb had been diagnosed with Leukemia.
“It was less than a month from the day that she was diagnosed until the day she died,” says Jean.
Deb was sent to Rush Presbyterian Hospital in Chicago and Jean drove up to be with her that first weekend. She remembers sleeping on the hospital room floor right by her sister’s side.
“We tried to pretend it was a sleepover and that kind of thing,” she says.
The following weekend, Deb received a call from her dad saying that Deb was struggling. At the time, they thought she was having a bad anxiety attack. Deb had gone through anxiety attacks before, it was something that Jean was familiar with. She had worked with Deb to overcome past attacks. On the phone, her dad asked Jean to drive to the hospital to calm her down. He said she was agitated.
“I remember throwing everything into my car and heading up to Chicago and when I got there, probably within 20 minutes, I knew it wasn’t an anxiety attack,” she says. ”Something was wrong.”
Jean immediately called for a nurse and after running tests, found that her blood oxygen level was low. On the way to the Intensive Care Unit, her heart stopped beating. Doctors acted quickly and were able to revive her.
“We were all just shocked,” says Jean.
Later that afternoon, they had to revive her again after her heart stopped a second time.
“That all happened on a Saturday. So, Saturday night, I stayed in the hospital and slept in the hospital waiting room,” she says. ”You sleep terribly in those places. But in the morning, it was a brand new day, I was thinking, ‘this is going to be alright.’ My family regathered because the doctors wanted to talk to us and they basically told us that it had been a miracle that she had survived the night.”
Doctors explained that Deb had contracted an infection that had caused all of her organs to shut down one by one. He didn’t know how much longer she had.
“I mean, it was just so terrible to hear that news. It was just so heartbreaking,” says Jean. ”Sunday night, my family began drifting back to their hotels but I couldn’t leave. I just had to stay.”
Jean went into Deb’s room one last time before going to sleep that night around 2:00 am. She told Deb that if she wanted to continue to fight, Jean would stand by her side for as long as it took.
She walked back into the hospital waiting room, sat down in one of the uncomfortable chairs and tried to get some rest.
“I finally fell asleep and I started to dream,” recalls Jean. ”And in the dream, she and I, my sister and I were together in this absolutely stunning garden. It was no place I’ve ever seen in my waking life. It had gorgeous blossoms of many different colors, the brightest yellow and red I’d ever seen. The greenery was just lush. It was stunning, just absolutely stunning.”
“I was standing in front of her and she was seated on a bench and I sort of looked around this beautiful landscape and to my right I actually saw this shimmering light. It sort of mesmerized me. And as I turned to look at it, my sister sort of followed my gaze and looked at it, too. And in my dream, I knew that that was where we were going. I sort of took a step toward it and my sister held back. She wasn’t sure.”
“I held my hand out to her and sort of nodded toward the light and told her, ‘It’s okay, it’s right here.’ She reached up and took my hand and got to her feet. And we walked toward that light. And it was at that exact moment that I woke up because overhead they were paging doctors to her room. Her heart had stopped again.”
“Chaos erupted and people came running and the doctor came to me and told me they were trying to revive her but he wasn’t sure how successful they would be and did I want to come in. And I told him, ‘no,’ because I knew she was already gone.”
“She died that moment she walked with me to the light.”
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Gee, That’s Just neat!
Wow! I am often blown away by Jean’s stories and insights…but this is….. absolutely wonderful. I like Danny’s artistic touches in the piece. too… especially the music and the timing of his narratives. I plan on sharing this with my friends and family.
Wow! First of all, I also loved having Mrs. Gorski as a teacher in high school. I don’t remember hearing that story though so I am so happy you recorded it! What an amazing experience!
This story gave me goosebumps, and made me smile. Mrs. Gorski sounds like a one in a million teacher and friend. She really was given a beautiful gift, I wish we could all have that experience when a loved one passes.
This is really touching. Such a beautiful story.