Jennifer Anne Robertson can take one big item off her bucket list. She’s headed to her dream destination of Savannah, Georgia.
The Marketing Association for Mississippi Healthcare, a group of health care leaders in the area who partner for positive change in the area, sponsor the “Live A Dream” Foundation.
Robertson was selected as the organization’s annual Live A Dream recipient.
The foundation promotes quality of life to area senior citizens. Having recognized that most older Americans lived through the Depression, have limited health ability and few resources, and must use those limited resources for necessary expenditures such as medications, the group created the foundation to enable someone to experience a lifetime wish.
Robertson, a resident of Liberty Community Living Center, is a retired registered psychiatric nurse and worked many years for the Louisiana State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. She later became a travel nurse and got to see much of the United States, even getting to visit Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
“Somehow, enchanted Savannah with its beautifully dripping Southern history eluded me,” Robertson said. “I dream of taking the trolley on the historic brick streets, seeing the historic cemetery in her favorite book, ‘Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil’ and dining at Paula Dean’s Lady & Sons restaurant.”
She is an avid reader of American history and has read many books about Savannah.
Poor health forced her retirement in 2005. She is battling a rare form of cancer, striking only one in 262,000 people. It is inoperable and untreatable.
“My prognosis was four to eight months, and I’m in my fifth month. I feel my energy level diminishing,” she said. “Being able to take this dream trip now is fortuitous. My weight is holding steady right now at 170 pounds. When I was diagnosed, I had always been overweight at 239 pounds.
“I was thrilled with the weight loss but do not recommend this diet to anyone,” she said with a laugh.
Though she is sometimes in pain, Niece Mabry, admissions director at Liberty Community Living Center and a member of MAMH said, “She keeps us laughing and tells us so many antidotes that we may not know around the nursing home. She is brilliant and funny.”
Robertson says she is at peace with her prognosis and thanks God for the time she’s been given to spend with her family and friends. She also appreciates the time to make amends to people.
She plans to donate her body to science in hopes that others will benefit from the findings.
“Words cannot express my gratitude for being selected to live my dream and the opportunity of sharing this with my granddaughter Leighton, who is a registered nurse,” said Robertson.
Mabry noted that past Live A Dream gifts have been varied. They have included helping a 70-year-old woman get her degree from Southwest Mississippi Community College, sending an elderly man to New Jersey to visit a son’s grave, and giving a spa day dream for another recipient.
Area citizens who are 65 or older may apply for a Live A Dream Scholarship by sending a letter stating why their dream is important to them and how it will impact their life. They should also include background information about themselves and family information.
It may be mailed to P.O. Box 2093, McComb, MS 39649 or emailed to mamhorg@yahoo.com.
MAMH sponsors a Live A Dream Golf Tournament to raise funds for the Dreams. This year’s tourney is Friday, Oct. 3 at Quail Hollow Golf course. All of the proceeds stay in the community to help senior Americans.
For more information, call 341-8522.
