By Newark Police Department
NEWARK, NJ – The 2nd Precinct of the Newark Department of Public Safety pulled together the unthinkable recently. In a North Ward parking lot on Broadway, Community Service Officers had bad boy villains and defenders of justice join forces for a community, fun-filled event with children and their families.
Batman and the Joker were there. Superman and Wonder Woman came, too, with other guardians from the comic book universe.
The real superhero, though, was Lennae-Elizabeth Lowe, a 6-year-old medical miracle whom Officer T. Rich could not forget when she met her several months ago. At the time, Rich was assisting her dad, Jon Lowe, with a police matter when he began to talk about health issues his daughter has overcome.
Lennae-Elizabeth, he said, was smaller than a premature baby at birth. Known as a “micro-preemie,” she was an infant so tiny and frail that her 1 pound and 10-ounce body fit easily in her dad’s hand from the tip of his fingers to the base of his palm.
She would need lots of attention to survive. Her left lung collapsed a month after she was born. The right lung stopped working a week later when she also went into cardiac arrest during emergency surgery at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston.
Considered medically fragile, Lennae-Elizabeth needed two life sustaining devices at 2-years-old to help her breathe and eat. Doctors inserted a trachea tube into her windpipe, a feeding tune into her stomach and they both stayed in place four years until she was strong enough in January to have them removed.
The villains and superheroes listened to Lowe’s story. They surrounded Lennae-Elizabeth as Officer Rich explained why she and the 2nd Precinct wanted his little girl with the big smile to be their honorary superhero.
“It was nice for them to do that’’ Lowe said.
He was almost in tears, snapping pictures of his daughter holding her framed award certificate that had her name and superhero title.
“I’m grateful,” he said. “This is a blessing.”