ROCKY HILL - As an adult, sometimes we all have to sit back and think about our lives. Do we change things? Are we happy? Are we lonely? Are we kind? Do we care enough?

       We all strive in some way--most do at least--to become the best people we were meant to be. For some, it’s as easy as being there for a friend, or being a person who can support a family, support your loved ones’ dreams, goals and ambitions. Sometimes being a good person is just as simple as saying hello to a stranger, or maybe even to you it means donating time or money to community service.

       There are people who were gifted with an unendurable sense of compassion. Some have to find it as they grow older; others are just kind by nature. However, in life, sometimes people become cynical after years of struggle and heartbreak, or just become worn down by work and the tiny sufferings and pangs of injustice that seem to be an everyday occurrence in our modern society. Maybe your coffee was too hot, or someone took your parking space. It’s almost as if there is an underlying anger at the most trivial. Even though sometimes we all suffer from a tiny bit of entitlement, when a true heart-rendering sorrow or spasm afflicts us, some suffer the blues, or reds, or whatever color we associate glumness with and lack the structure to express it. It’s human nature and being able to get up after dealing with struggle is what makes us better; learning from our own sacrifices makes us grow.

       There is a family, a humble family, of hard-working folks who have dedicated their lives to service in a way. A family close to home in our community--the Camarro family in Rocky Hill. Wayne and Jackie Camarro have been given three incredible gifts throughout their lives, a talented and sensitive artist named Samantha; an expressive and wonderful teenage boy, or should I say, â€�"young man” named Harrison; and an outgoing little guy called Jacob. With these gifts, as many parents will understand, come sacrifices. However the case of the Camarro family is quite unique.

       Their 18-year-old son Harrison, born on Christmas, is quite the miracle. He was the only person to survive birth with his singular condition. Harrison was born developmentally disabled with a condition called a trisomy, where one is born with a triple set of chromosomes. Besides the incomparable condition of a trisomy, Harrison’s windpipe was approximately the diameter of about a coffee stirrer, a condition that was not known by doctors until he reached the age of six months.

       Harrison has an unmatched and peerless personality as a young man, he stands out in school and is loved and cared for by his educators at the Gengras School in West Hartford. Wayne and Jackie beam and glow when they speak about their son.

       â€�"After they did the surgery to repair his trachea you could see his personality come out. Before that he was suffocating, after he would reach out, before that he was only struggling.”

       They almost jointly recounted his progress at around eight years old: â€�"He started to make some progress, he was holding a cup. He was holding a fork and spoon to feed himself, and was using a stander at school where he could shuffle along and take a few steps.”

       At around nine years â€�"Harry,” as his parents call him, began to suffer fits of laughter.

       â€�"At around nine years he began to laugh almost uncontrollably, at first we thought it was funny, but after a few times you could see that he was in distress and it become absolutely uncontrollable. At the time we did not know that he was suffering a type of seizure. That is when he began to regress and lost any kind of progress he was making developmentally.”

       Wayne and Jackie don’t view their exceptional circumstances as a sacrifice, they don’t view it as a duty. They view their life with Harry and their other children with a conscientiousness and tenderness that borders on a very special kind of human compassion.

       â€�"Harrison is loving and kind; he touches you, he smiles and gives back a lot. I am grateful that he is here,” said Jackie. â€�"I could never call it a sacrifice. We are lucky to have him and no matter what anybody’s afflictions are, they all have something to give and I hope people can find that and embrace it. I’ve never felt angry or regretful.”

       This positivity soaks and permeates the whole family--even their other children, who are confident, obliging and unselfish towards the delicate balance of the household. Samantha Camarro, the oldest, refused scholarship money offered to the families of disabled people for her BFA program at the Pratt Institute of Art because of the altruistic reason of not capitalizing on her brother’s disability. It shows a responsiveness and perceptiveness that escapes some people on an everyday basis. She even composed an installation piece titled â€�"Memento” in which she constructed a wire wheel chair titled on its axis, which spins and rotates a giant syringe striking the board of a xylophone.

       â€�"It represents Harry’s world as being upside down. And he loves music, so thats why she added the xylophone,” said Wayne as he proudly played a video of the working installation.

       Harrison is not the only engaging paroxysm that the Camarro family has to deal with. Their youngest son Jacob was diagnosed with hemophilia with an inhibitor, which means that he is medication resistant.

       â€�"There have been times where they have both been in the hospital right next to each other,” said Jackie. â€�"A few years ago Jacob had a double fracture and was hospitalized for four months. He was in a wheel chair--we had two wheelchairs in the house. So we have learned to balance our lives with two different medically-challenging situations.”

       Members of the Camarro family all know and work within their limitations; they are a team. Schedules are set months in advance if either Wayne or Jackie have to travel on business and both of their employers have been more than willing to offer differing schedules and time for appointment for both Harry and Jacob.

       Wayne has become a tireless advocate not only for his children, but handicapped and disabled people in general. He recently met with state senators and representatives to pitch ideas and some solutions he and a few others from an advocacy group, sponsored by the office of protection and advocacy, have thought of concerning handicapped parking and accessibility.

       One must understand that the Camarro family asks for nothing but people’s humanity. They wish only that people get to know Harry.

       â€�"Sometimes Harry is easier than most kids. I’ve got the regular kids and I’ve got Harrison. He’s affectionate. Our job is simply to love him and take care of him, he is accepting,” said Jackie.

       Wayne only wishes for understanding.

       â€�"Some people offer us pity. They consider our lives a burden, but they all mean well. They mean the best, but I just wish that they would really take the time to get to know Harry, and see his personality, to see what we see,” he said.

       The Camarro family, even though well-prepared, hard working and public-spirited, need the help of our community. The help they need is not in the form of any kind of appropriation or monetary donation; It is only in the form of a one-minute vote via a website. A simple, kind act of clicking an Internet link.

       Harry is a hero. He is entered in a contest, a national contest that even includes people from Canada in the hopes of winning a handicapped accessible vehicle. The voting runs through the month of May and winners are notified in early June. Supporters can vote numerous times a day. Wayne Camarro created a website that brings you directly to Harry’s voting page, www.wheelsforharry.com .

       If Harry is to receive enough votes and remain in the top 10 percent of finalists, his two-minute introduction video and profile will be put before a panel of judges who decide the four winners of the handicapped accessible vehicle.

       â€�"We would really hope to just break into the top 10 percent that would be awesome. Then it would be in the hands of the judging panel, but to break into that second round would be great,” said Jackie.

       The struggles of moving a young man in a heavy wheelchair sometimes seem unsurmountable for the Camarro family, who lack a vehicle capable of transporting their son. There are difficulties of being able to leave the home to even go shopping--things that we take for granted everyday.

       â€�"We can walk him to Walmart or Stop & Shop, but we have to take a well-worn delivery path and there is a curb that we have to lift him over, but that is about as far as we can go,” said Wayne. â€�"If one of us is not at 100 percent and we can’t be there for Harry, then we are done--our tightly wound machine falls apart. A vehicle would really help.”

       So as we all think about how to really grow as compassionate human beings, it would be good to take an honest look at others in the community; almost self-actualized people who know and work within their limitations and only have love and understanding to share with their family and neighbors.

       Take a few minutes out of your day and just vote for Harry. Maybe it will change his life. Maybe it will change yours. Suffering is always relative. Hardship is relative, as is love, as is everything in life. Things have completely different meanings for different people and personalities. However, the Camarro family, a fountain of positivity and caring, whose humanity is expressed every day, only wish for a one-minute vote and the consideration of getting to know their very special son, Harrison Camarro.