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Nathan Dershem is a busy 12 year old.
The big sports and country music fan participates in karate, tap dancing, horseback riding and gymnastics. He enjoys attending Mass each week at St. John the Evangelist Church in Goshen, bringing up the offertory gifts, and he hopes to be an altar boy soon. Nathan also has traveled to 28 states and Canada with his parents Jeff and Maria.
He is now adding Lourdes, France, to his list of places visited. Nathan, who has Down syndrome, was one of five children chosen by Our Lady of Lourdes Knights of Columbus Council 5890 in Washingtonville to participate in the 63rd annual U.S. National Rosary Pilgrimage to Lourdes, June 22 to July 1.
“For all of us, this is something special to go on this pilgrimage,” Mrs. Dershem told CNY before leaving on the trip with her son and husband. “This community has embraced him. God chose us and blessed us with a child like Nathan. He lights up our lives and our whole family.”
Also participating in the pilgrimage are Thomas L. Bligh, 11, St. Joseph-St. Thomas parish, Staten Island, diagnosed with autism; Jack Goldman, 8, St. Mary’s, Washingtonville, autism, obsessive compulsive disorder, sleep disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Julia Bruzzese, 13, St. Bernadette, Brooklyn, Lyme disease and multi co-infections, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and adrenal dysfunction; and Evan Cartagena, 12, St. Patrick, Highland Mills, history of seizure disorder, trisomy 3 and other disorders due to chromosome anomalies.
The U.S. pilgrims will join all national pilgrimage groups at the International Mass of Lourdes Sunday, June 25. A Mass is being celebrated on Wednesday, June 28, at the Grotto of Massabielle, the site of apparitions of the Blessed Mother to 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous, now St. Bernadette, in 1858.
The Knights of Columbus Council 5890, which has sent 170 children to Lourdes in its 43 years in the program, is raising money to send disabled children with a parent to France. The expected cost this year for the five children and five parents is more than $40,000.
Walt Kozlowski of the Knights of Columbus said about half the money has been raised and the Knights of Columbus will continue raising money through the summer for this trip with any additional money being put aside toward the 2018 trip.
“Yes, it’s a lot of work,” said Kozlowski, who will be participating in his 15th pilgrimage to Lourdes. “When we go to various parishes to raise money, they’re supportive and know people who have gone on the pilgrimage. Many good positive things have come out of this.
“The children, the families, the expectations and the people you meet make this a great trip. I see people from around the world process in unison. The world can learn a lot from Lourdes.”
Nathan is a special education student at Goshen Intermediate School, keeping busy with his activities and following his favorite teams—the Yankees, Giants and all Pittsburgh teams. Nathan, whose family is originally from Pittsburgh, watched his beloved Penguins claim their second consecutive Stanley Cup June 11.
“He has a delay in his speech, which is a real struggle for him,” his mother said. “He has the ideas in his head but can’t formulate it to words quick enough. He’s had wonderful people for speech therapists, but he’s not there yet.”
Julia Bruzzese was a student at St. Bernadette School in Brooklyn when she developed a bullseye rash in 2013 that was not diagnosed as Lyme disease until two years later because tests for Lyme disease always came back negative. The disease progressed in those two years until she could no longer walk, lost her upper-body strength and endurance, and was considered legally blind in New York state. She also had to be schooled at home.
Julia was in the public spotlight in 2015 when a television audience watched as Pope Francis blessed her upon arriving at Kennedy Airport in Queens. Since the papal blessing, Julia has regained motor functions in her feet and ankles as well as her upper-body strength, and the frequent headaches and fevers are almost non-existent. A gofundme page was started and raised almost $122,000 for the family.
“The blessing gave us courage and positive results,” said Enrico Bruzzese, Julia’s father.
Her family shares the hopes of other families on the pilgrimage to Lourdes.
“For us, it’s all a part of a miracle,’’ said Bruzzese, the father of four children with his wife, Josephine, who accompanied his daughter to France. “She’s still very sick, but we’ve seen tremendous improvement in the last two years. It’s slow but it’s steady.
“We have high hopes. We feel blessed, honored and fortunate.’’
Donations for the pilgrimage may be remitted to Our Lady of Lourdes Benevolent Association Inc. and mailed to the Knights of Columbus, Attention: Lourdes Program, 18 Hallock Drive, Washingtonville, N.Y. 10992. Information: Walt Kozlowski, (845) 728-5298.
