A humble hero

Life has not been easy for the Cassavetes and especially not so for their now 13 year-old daughter, Nicole, who was born with a rare heart condition. Where 3 open-heart surgeries didn’t work, all at an age of less than 24 months, a heart-transplant is said to be the only thing that can help her. On October 30, thieves stole and torched the family’s only vehicle that was used to transport Nicole from Hamilton to her hospital in Toronto. Until, to their rescue came a humble hero, Jamie Zivanovich…

Jamie Zivanovich is very much a part of the ArcelorMittal family – he has been working at our Dofasco site for 12 years. A story detailing this incident and the Cassavetes family’s plight that appeared in the publication, The Hamilton Spectator, moved him so much that he went straight to the town’s Queenston Motor dealership carrying a copy of the article and asked to buy a car that he could gift the Cassavetes family.

Within minutes, the whole dealership was scrambling to help Jamie pick out a car and service it to perfection. On November 1 already, Jamie, his wife Kristin, son Jordan and daughter Jessica already delivered the SUV, a 2004 Saturn Vue, to the Cassavetes family.

Times have been tight for the Cassavetes family. The response to the family’s plight however has been overwhelming. Students and staff at Memorial School, which Nicole attended for Grades 6 to 8, even raised money for a gas card to keep the car’s tank full.

After reading in the Hamilton Spectator about what Jamie did, other residents of the area have been inspired also into doing whatever they can for the Cassavetes family and offers have been pouring in. “It really goes to show you that all we have to do is plant a seed and sit back and watch it germinate and grow. I am still overwhelmed with how this has all taken off. I’m not surprised because I know there are so many more people out there that would have done the same thing. What I can tell you is that this whole experience has been awesome for my family and me.”

Nicole successfully underwent yet another surgery on November 7 – a procedure to help get more air into her lungs – so that when that life-saving call for a heart comes, her body is in better shape to handle the transplant.

The vehicle needed to transport Nicole to the hospital is of course standing ready in the Cassavetes drive-way, thanks to the efforts of one colleague at ArcelorMittal Dofasco, Hamilton

An account at TD Canada Trust has been set up by the Cassavetes family grandmother, Lillian McConnell, for Nicole. The account number is 237 6354816, should you also want to make a difference in Nicole’s life.