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The Heart Beat

Summer sweethearts

In 2000, a counselor at a muscular dystrophy camp passed a note to a camper. She married him in March.

By AMY SCHERZER
Published July 1, 2005

TAMPA - Elio Navarro's brain can't always send messages to his muscles because he has spinal muscular atrophy.

But Navarro's brain sent his heart pounding when he met Jessi Rowen.

It was summer 2000 and Rowen was a senior at Hillsborough High School volunteering at a muscular dystrophy camp in Brandon.

Navarro had been a camper since he was 5 and was also leading the counselor orientation.

"He was the king of camp," said Rowen, now 21. She remembered him tooling around camp in his motorized chair, introducing himself and putting everyone at ease.

She passed a note to another counselor to give to Navarro. She wrote: "I think you are pretty awesome."

Navarro, now 24, was ecstatic.

"I was more excited than anything in my entire life," he said. He had never had a steady girlfriend.

During the week, he persuaded her to join him for karaoke night and to stay out past curfew, despite strict rules against campers and counselors mingling.

Camp ended; a deep friendship began.

Navarro, a 1998 Gaither High graduate, went back to studying information systems at the University of South Florida and working at Verizon's data services. Rowen finished the International Baccalaureate program in 2001 and enrolled at the University of Miami.

Now their daily talks were long distance.

An erroneous cell phone bill for thousands of minutes - something like $1,200 - shocked her parents, Candi and Robert Rowen, owner of Nuance Galleries in South Tampa.

"That's when they knew we were more than best friends," Rowen said.

Her parents were concerned, not because of his wheelchair but because they thought she was too young.

The phone calls extended to Germany and France when Rowen spent two summers studying abroad. Like Rowen's parents, Navarro encouraged Rowen to follow her dreams, even date other men.

"I tried to be detached, but privately I was hoping she wouldn't meet anyone," said Navarro, who stayed in Tampa pursuing an MBA. He continued mentoring and tutoring children with disabilities and giving motivational talks.

Since he was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy at age 2, Navarro's parents, Ilse and Elio Sr., taught him to believe he could achieve anything. An Air Force recruiter, Navarro Sr. moved his family many times, to Madrid, Oklahoma, Panama, Washington state, South Carolina, Miami and finally, Tampa, when Elio was a ninth-grader.

At every new school, Navarro's dad fought to get him in gifted classes and unrestricted school activities. In 1997, Navarro Sr. retired after 20 years in the military to keep his family in Tampa.

Over Labor Day weekend in 2003, Navarro and Rowen shared their feelings in a live interview on the Jerry Lewis telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

A month before their dual graduations in December 2003 - Rowen's bachelor's and Navarro's master's - they moved into an apartment together in Citrus Park.

"It might not have been the choice my parents would have made," Rowen said, "but once I did, they were very supportive."

In January 2004, Navarro changed jobs to become a software developer at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Rowen got a real estate license and worked for an apartment locator service.

About a week before Valentine's Day, Navarro got the best surprise of his life.

"Jessi handed me an ad for a jewelry store and said, "I think I could wear one of these."'

He raced to Tiffany's at International Plaza to buy a dazzling diamond ring.

Friends pulled some strings to get a reservation at Donatello's on Feb. 14. While they dined, Navarro's father played Cupid. He filled their apartment with three dozen roses, balloons, teddy bears and champagne.

Rowen was so happy, she said "yes" before Navarro finished proposing.

The next day she was still beaming when they returned the pricey ring for a less expensive one. They wanted the money for a down payment on a house in Waterchase, near Westchase.

Navarro almost had to pinch himself.

"Two weeks prior, we weren't even talking about marriage," he said.

Suddenly they were homeowners planning a March 5, 2005, wedding and dreaming of one day having a family.

At the same time, Navarro was introducing power soccer to Tampa.

"It got pretty crazy," Navarro said, recalling the hectic year.

Navarro started Tampa Thunder, a team of soccer players in power wheelchairs, and created a Web site,www.powersoccerflorida.net to share his passion for the sport. He even practiced during their honeymoon cruise aboard the Jewel of the Seas.

Rowen got so involved she turned her role refereeing and handling publicity, sponsorships, clinics and equipment sales into an MBA internship.

Just call us Team Navarro, Rowen said.

To pass along tips to Amy Scherzer, reach her at 226-3332 or scherzer@sptimes.com

[Last modified June 30, 2005, 09:09:07]