Kori Malenfant and her hero, Captain Kelly McCormick
In this time and age, we could really use a good story. One has happened right here in the county. Well, it starts here, anyway. Kori Malenfant is just your normal teenage girl. She likes spending time with her family, friends and her boyfriend. She also has two adorable goldendoodles. There is just one thing in Kori’s life that isn’t something she partially enjoys. Kori is living with Chiari Malformation. Chiari Malformation is a malformation of the hindbrain. This does not allow much space in between the brain and the skull. Some symptoms of this are dizziness, vertigo, visual disturbances and ringing in ears. “I’ve been dealing with some mental health issues for several years,” Malenfant said. This is also due to Chiari Malformation. “For the past nine or 10 months, I’ve been experiencing many physical side effects including dizziness, ringing in my ears, headaches and flashes of light in my vision,” Malenfant said.
Chiari Malformation can be treated with surgery. The only problem was, Malanfant and her family had to travel to New York for help. “Thankfully, I found Dr. Greenfield in New York who performed a decompression surgery to treat my condition,” Malenfant said. The procedure takes four to five hours, and thankfully it was a success. “It will take a while for the swelling and the inflammation to subside, so my symptoms are still present at about five weeks post-op.” Malenfant said.
Now the biggest problem the Malenfants faced was getting home. The weekend they were set to come home, Maine was hit with a blizzard. They pushed their travel plans back for a day to see if the weather would get any better. They made their way to Boston, where they would get on a train to Portland.
Just in a case of minutes, the Malenfant’s missed their train. The next train wasn’t going to be coming for a couple of hours, so the family had no clue what they were going to do. They decided to try to find a safe place to store their luggage. They started asking around, and that’s when they met Captain Kelly McCormick. He told the Malenfants that he would bring them somewhere to store their luggage, but instead drove them all the way to Portland.
“When I realized he was taking us to Portland, I was shocked and grateful. I was tired and in pain, so what he did for us was exactly what I needed in that moment. We couldn’t find the words to truly express to him how thankful we were,” Malenfant said.
What was even more amazing was the stories he told on the way. “He was in charge of hundreds of men during the Boston Marathon bombing, and was right there in the action when everything was taking place,” Malenfant said. She ended with, “I was honored to be sharing a car ride with a national hero.”
The family members made it back to their home in Westfield, and their story took to the Internet. Just days after Malenfant had shared this story on her personal Facebook page, Malenfant, her family and Captain McCormick were being interviewed for many networks. This is a story that we need to hear. We need to know that there are good police officers in the world who only want to serve and protect the people around them. Captain McCormick is one person the Malenfants can call their personal hero.
