Neighbors in Need: The Pastor Family

Written by Tim Sakahara - tsakahara@kgmb9.com

June 03, 2008 05:29 PM

When Aloha Airlines shut down in April life for 1,900 people changed dramatically. The layoffs capped what was already a very painful year and a half.

"What did the duck say?" Sharon Pastor lovingly asks her son.

"Quack, quack, quack," responds Micah, an active 20 month old.

The sounds of her sons, Micah and Luca, bring pure joy to Sharolyn Pastor. They were born September 18, 2006. Twenty four hours after the birth things changed.

"I felt strange. I felt dizzy. I felt like I was going faint. To make a long story short I had what turned out to be a very bad heart attack," said Sharolyn Pastor.

"It was very scary to see the doctors huddling in the corner looking at their palm devices like they didn't know what they were doing and they were scared too," said Jimmy Pastor, Sharolyn’s Husband.

Sharolyn was 40 years old at the time. She led a healthy lifestyle, she never smoked and had no prior heart problems. But now this…

"The cardiac surgeon walked into the ICU room and told my husband and I that I was very fortunate to have lived," said Pastor.

She was alive but not out of danger.

"Two days later I had another heart attack there in the hospital," said Pastor.

"I just learned that you can be on top of the world one day and the next your world can literally be crumbling down," said Jimmy Pastor.

In a span of 11 days she suffered two major heart attacks, had double bypass surgery and gave birth to twin boys through cesarean section, which is also major surgery.

"You anticipate what it's going to be like to take care of your kids and especially two, two little boys. It certainly wasn't how I planned it or my husband planned it," said Sharolyn Pastor.

Plans would take an even greater turn. At three months of age her son Micah started having health problems of his own. He was accumulating spinal fluid between his brain and his skull. Doctors performed two surgeries and put a device in his body that drains fluid from his head down to his abdomen.

A year and a half later things were starting to feel normal. Micah was progressing with weekly therapy and Sharolyn was feeling better. Well enough to go back to work. But yet again they hit more bumps in the road. She and her husband worked for Aloha Airlines.

Sharolyn was a flight attendant for 18 years and the face you saw in the on board flight instruction videos. She was six months pregnant when the last video was recorded.

But in April she and 1,900 others were laid off when the airline shutdown. Her Aloha Airlines income and benefits were gone.

"That's all we knew for a long time. We always counted on it being there," said Pastor.

Fortunately her husband got another job with Aloha Petroleum after Aloha's last bankruptcy in 2005 and has new medical insurance. But they are still paying for her surgeries along with daily medication for her and her son. That's why they've turned to Helping Hands Hawaii for help. Even though money is tight the Pastor family feels blessed.

"The healthiest person today can have a tragic health problem tomorrow and I learned that the hard way and I don't take my health problems for granted anymore," said Sharolyn Pastor. "My goal now truly is very simple, to live as long as I can... well."

Helping Hands Hawaii is looking for help. Your donations will help the Pastor family and others still looking for work in this tough economy. For more information and to make a donation click here.

Look for more stories all month in The Honolulu Advertiser and on KGMB9.