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Religion

Mural takes her to land of her dreams

By GAIL HOLLENBECK
Published April 16, 2005

One of the photos used in the Ladies' Home Journal to tell the story of Melissa and Pat Moore is a mural of a rain forest painted on the wall of Melissa's room.

"Our friend Bonnie Peterson painted the mural, and my mom and our friend Gladys did some of the background," Melissa said. "She stapled leaves on the ceiling by my closet. My room is a rain forest."

Peterson, who is on the board of directors for Habitat for Humanity of Citrus County, is an artist and the owner of Artsy Rooms. She became close to the Moores when they were building their house.

"We were at the store and I was talking to Bonnie and told her I wanted to do a rain forest for Melissa's room," Pat Moore said. "Then she told me she painted and showed me some of the things she did in her grandchildren's rooms and said she would help me out. She did more than just help out, obviously."

Peterson said she enjoyed doing the mural.

"It was inspirational to create this mural for Melissa," Peterson said. "I know that Melissa dreams of visiting Australia. With her illness, traveling that far is not likely to happen for her. I created it by merging several photographs that we found on Web sites, and then we added the waterfall, a koala and the tropical birds. Melissa was part of selecting the different elements that went into the mural. God has blessed me with a talent that allowed me to put Melissa into an environment that put her much closer to her dream."

And Melissa has an idea for making her rain forest even bigger.

"I need to get a mirror on the wall to see the mural on both sides of my room," she said.

Peterson said meeting Melissa is motivational.

"As limited as her body is, her mind is active all the time. She is an avid computer enthusiast. To help others, Melissa grows her hair and donates it to cancer patients. She is full of determination and has a wonderful upbeat personality."

Peterson understands some of Pat Moore's pain.

"I know personally the heartache of having a child with a life-threatening disease. My son was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma back in '99. Thank the Lord he has recovered and is healthy today. But as a parent, you pray to God to take your child's disease away from them and give it to you instead. Pat accepts her role as Melissa's care giver, absorbs the emotional pain that goes along with watching her child in physical pain, and when you see her, she smiles and faces life with only love, grace and compassion."

Melissa said she is especially thankful for her mother.

"My mom is a sweet lady," she said. "My mom's been by me all 23 years of my life. She's very special to me."

[Last modified April 16, 2005, 02:45:13]