BY DANI TIETZ
dani@mahometnews.com
Joseph Stephen Dauwe.
It’s a name that hundreds of Mahomet-Seymour spectators became acquainted with during the last month.
A freshmen at Mahomet-Seymour High School, Joseph performed Christmas songs on the piano as loved ones found their seat for the M-S Christmas play.
Then on Jan. 17, Joseph took home first place at the M-S Variety show.
Spectators knew something special was about to happen prior to Joseph’s second-act performance. No other act had been introduced.
M-S Senior Adam Von Houten, a friend of Joseph’s for nearly three years, related a little bit of Joseph’s story before he played.
Von Houten shared that before birth, Joseph’s parents were given grave news about their child’s condition.
“When I was five months pregnant, we were just expecting to find out if it was a boy or a girl,” Jackie Dauwe said in an interview a few days after Joseph’s performance.
Although Jackie’s husband David had never missed an ultrasound for the two previous children or the baby they were about to have, David had a meeting he could not miss during the ultrasound to find out the sex of the child.
While Jackie found out the baby was a boy, she also learned that his skull had not developed correctly. The condition called encephalocele allows for a sac-like protrusion of the brain, covered by thin membranes, that sits outside the skull.
Caught off guard, Jackie asked natural questions, like, “Why?” and “How?”
“It’s just an odd thing. There’s no explanation; it just happens sometimes,” she said.
Doctors asked the couple if they wanted to abort the baby, but Jackie declined, saying that she “believes in a God that can heal.”
David never missed another ultrasound for the next four months.
“They never gave us a good report,” Jackie said. “They said, ‘We will see if he is alive next month.’ ”
But Jackie and David were holding onto another promise; one that only family members knew about.
With two children, ages 12 and 10, at home, Jackie and David were not expecting another child.
“Before we knew that we were expecting, the Lord had woke my husband up and showed him a blue-eyed boy and told him to name him Joseph Stephen. And that our lives were about to drastically change,” Jackie said.
As a Christian family, the Dauwes knew that Joseph meant “God shall add.” It wasn’t until they learned about the baby’s skull that they found out what Steven means.
“It means a ‘crown of victory,’ ” Jackie said.
“His very name means God will add a crown of victory,” she continued. “It was no longer a name, it was a promise.”
When doctors told the couple time and time again that they weren’t sure how long their son would live, they also thought about the Biblical story about Jacob and Joseph, in Genesis.
“It was enough for us that he was alive today,” Jackie said.
After Joseph’s birth, doctors drained the fluid sac and closed up the skull as best as they could.
“He still has a huge soft spot there like a baby does,” Jackie said.
Joseph had a long road ahead of him. The opening at the skull was near his optic nerve, which has left him with cortical vision impairments.
Jackie said even today there are times when Joseph can see, then his vision will go away.
And unlike other babies, Joseph had therapists come in to teach him how to crawl and walk.
But one thing Joseph has never received training on is playing an instrument.
“He was in the walker, and we had a metal kitchen trash can,” Jackie said.
“He had rattles or something, and he started beating. At first you’re like, ‘No, no. You don’t want to do that.’ But then I thought, ‘Hold on, that actually sounded good.’
“You could tell he just lit up.”
The Dauwes have made sure to always have instruments available for Joseph since then.
Before he was 2, they got him a keyboard that they put on the floor.
“He was looking up at the ceiling and picking out songs: “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, all the little nursery rhymes. He was (playing the notes) while looking at the ceiling.”
“We knew that he hears and understands music and can repeat it.”
Joseph often wows his parents when he just starts playing songs like the “National Anthem” or “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”.
“You never know what will come out,” Jackie said.
Although he’s never had a lesson and he cannot see sheet music, Joseph also plays the guitar, the banjo and the drums.
When auditions for the Variety Show were approaching, Von Houten approached Jackie and David to see if he could share Joseph’s story.
Jackie said it was okay if the staff would allow it.
“I believe his story is worth sharing,” she said.
The Dauwes then worked with M-S Variety Show Sponsor Amber Gibbard to get Joseph into the show.
“When they told me about it, I thought he would love to do that because he loves to play the drums,” Jackie said.
“Ms. Gibbard has been phenomenal,” she continued. “She went above and beyond communicating and being willing to have him included.”
Being included in the variety show is a place where Joseph can shine.
“That is something that he can do. He loves interacting with the people,” Jackie said.
“It’s amazing to see how warm and affectionate the kids are (to Joseph),” David said. “They are just supportive of him because of who he is. They love who he is.”
David said Joseph is also treated like a rock star when he attends youth group at Grace Church on Wednesday nights.
“They are so good to him,” he said.
Jackie said the first time the family attended church there after moving from Kentucky was three years ago.
“We were just blown away by Grace,” Jackie said. “They just welcomed him and accepted him exactly the way he is.
“He doesn’t fit any kind of ‘mold’; once worship starts, he is right at the foot of the altar. He is enjoying every minute of it. They just let him be him.”
Joseph met Von Houten at Grace.
“He was just a role model then,” Jackie said. “He just loved Joseph.”
As a junior high student, Joseph’s family was introduced to Mahomet-Seymour’s Bulldog Buddy program. The program pairs different learners together so that everyone is included.
When Joseph entered the high school, and realized that Von Houten was a part of the Bulldog Buddy program there, he was elated.
“Joseph was thrilled to see him there,” Jackie said.
At high school, the Bulldog Buddies program provides opportunities for students with special needs to have that typical high school experience so many children enjoy.
Through the program, Joseph was included in the fall homecoming dance and tailgated at a football game.
“Joseph would probably never even go to a football game,” Jackie said. “It’s made that high school experience come to life for him.”
“That whole program helps them with their confidence and just to have a friend,” she continued. “I mean everyone wants to be accepted and wants to have friends, no matter what your abilities are. Everyone wants to feel like they are a part of something.”
Joseph’s best friend, Preston Hodges, also gives him that feeling of being a part of something bigger than himself.
The boys’ friendship has touched the hearts of friends and family for years.
It all began when Preston wrote Joseph a note inviting him over to his house.
Jackie called Linda Hodges, Preston’s mom, and now the families regularly visit, go roller skating, to the movies and out to eat.
“They are so much alike, it’s hilarious,” Jackie said.
Preston has also encouraged his friend to join Special Olympics.
Joseph has spent the winter months learning how to dribble a basketball. He is also getting ready to begin gymnastics with his team.
But first, Joseph Stephen Dauwe, as presented on the program’s performance schedule, has to prepare for another moving performance at the Mahomet-Seymour High School Variety Show at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
For spectators who saw the show last Thursday, Jackie said “no two performances are alike.”
“Joseph is full of surprises,” she said. “There is no telling what he might do. That’s why we record it every time because we’re just not sure what is going to happen!”
But his parents do know one thing for certain.
“I’m still believing in him to do great things,” Jackie said. “We will just see where it all unfolds.”
