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A Louisa County clan finds farm life therapeutic for a life-altering diagnosis.
BY KRISTINA WEAVER
As Adrianna Vargo pull s her 22-month-old daughter Astrid out of her car seat, her 4-year-old son Finn races past the backyard chicken house to meet them in the driveway.
The girls have been gone all day on one of Astrid’s medical trips, this time to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, where she receives laser treatments for the port-wine birthmark on her face. The trio lingers outside on the porch steps to watch fireflies while Steve, the man of the house, prepares a dinner of Swiss chard and summer squash, the latest bounty from their Quail Spring Farm in Louisa County.
When the Vargos started the farm a decade ago, it was an expression of their dream to live in tune with nature. As Adrianna’s sister and a volunteer from the beginning, I have watched the farm develop from a side business tended on weekends to a full-time producer of herb and vegetable crops using organic techniques. This year, through its CSA, Quail Spring Farm is supplying weekly servings of tomatoes, peppers, melons, and much more to 50 area families. Steve also sells at the West End Farmers’ Market in Richmond on Saturdays.
It’s hard work, and they always knew there would be trials along the way. But in September 2007, when Astrid was born, her portwine birthmark alerted doctors to test for Sturge Weber syndrome, a rare congenital condition with symptoms ranging from glaucoma to neurological impairment. In Astrid’s case, the birthmark mapped a vascular lesion on her brain. After she spent her first Christmas enduring seizures in an emergency room, it became clear that its impact on her, and her family, would be extensive. In October 2008, the Vargos made the most difficult decision of their lives, one they prayed would offer hope for their daughter. Thirteen-month-old Astrid underwent a hemispherectomy to remove the damaged half of her brain.
Now, less than a year after the surgery that left her partially paralyzed, Astrid is moving her whole body and learning to walk between the rows of crops as her parents perform their chores nearby. Her healthy left hemisphere steadily compensates for what was lost, and she remains free of seizures. She loves to be outdoors, where she can admire Dad on his noisy antique tractor and hitch a ride in Finn’s wheelbarrow. Astrid’s rapid development reflects the amazing plasticity of the brain, and it’s easy to imagine a wide-open future for this bright, charming toddler. Even at a young age, she is a powerful source of inspiration for her family. “One thing I’ve learned through Astrid is that you can’t control anything, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be happy,” Steve says. “For example, I used to worry all the time about how weather would affect the crops. Now I get up in the morning, play with my kids, and head to the fields. I do my best and let it go. I’m much happier.”
Astrid’s ordeal has even renewed the family’s enthusiasm for farming. “If you look at our experience with Astrid and then at what’s happening in the country, it’s like so many paths leading to the same place,” Adrianna says. “For me, this work aligns with what’s important: live simply, treasure family.”
Back on the front porch, Finn leans in to show Astrid a firefly between his palms. He notices the dark bruises on his sister’s face, side effects of the laser treatment. He has his own small birthmark— one that poses no health concerns—and I once told him I thought it was very cool. In typical 4-year-old fashion, he reflected my comment back a few days later. We were pulling weeds from inside beet rows when Finn said, “You know what, Kristina? Astrid’s birthmark is the coolest one in the whole world.”
Steve emerges from the kitchen and reaches for his smiling daughter as Adrianna reassures Finn that his sister and her unsurpassed birthmark are fine. Comforted, Finn decides he’s hungry for dinner. The entire family pauses briefly to appreciate the sun dipping toward the horizon over their land. “We feel strongly,” says Steve, “that life on this farm, connected to the natural world, is Astrid’s best therapy.”
Kristina Weaver is a writer and editor living in Charlottesville’s Belmont neighborhood. She and her partner, Eze Amos, plan to build an organic farm in West Africa in the future.
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