Steve Morris introduced Tom and Joe Theroux, a father and son from South Windsor active in FAVARH's community.
Tom spoke about his son Joe's journey. Joe had a difficult beginning in life; he was a twin and started crowning at 17 weeks. He was born at 25 weeks. To put into perspective, an average pregnancy is 4o weeks, and the earliest live birth at the hospital was seen at 20 weeks at that time. Unfortunately, his twin sister passed an hour after birth, and Joe spent a significant amount of time in the NICU, where he developed retinopathy of prematurity and became blind in one eye. After Joe was released, he received intensive Occupational, Physical, and Speech therapies.
As Joe got older, his family noticed a passion for theatrics inspired by Catholic masses that they watched on television at home. He could memorize and recite mass, so his family built him an altar at home. Joe would give a 45-minute mass every weekend! In school, he joined the choir, where he was a diligent student. At church, he became an altar server and excelled at this role. The family developed a love for Disney and had a timeshare in Orlando. Whenever they visited the theme parks, Joe could recite the lines of each cast member, and conductors on the park trains would let him make the announcements, which he would deliver perfectly! Any time a Disney cast member would hand Joe the mic he would knock it out of the park and do just as good of a job and engage whoever his audience was. In high school, Joe joined theater and enjoyed it until the COVID pandemic, which threw that all away. Now, he is active with the FAVARH players.
Joe said the theater plays a central role in who he is!
As Joe's parents aged, their concern was what would happen to Joe. When Joe turned 18, they diligently looked into housing at FAVARH's Bear Woods apartment complex. While it was a little too soon for Joe to move in at 18, today, at 21, he was able to secure a third-floor apartment that is all his own, and he has been living there since August of 2023. He also got a job at Beanz and independently searched to become a parishioner at a closer church, where he is now a member at St. Ann's, where he is an active altar server and helps set up each mass. He also applied for a janitor job in September at St. Ann's, where the priest was thrilled to hire him and his dad!
When his father, Tom, looks back at the beginning of Joe's life and thinks about his difficult beginning, he is moved to see the success and drive that Joe has today.
Joe is cast as Simba in the upcoming FAVARH Lion King Jr. play and is thrilled to be a part of an inclusive community where he has made many friends.
You can support Joe and the FAVARH players by buying tickets for the March 15 and 16th showings. FAVARH is also looking for volunteers to operate the concession stands and ushers so the parents who typically volunteer can watch their children perform.
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