Born with a serious heart condition, Rebekah Leithren was often sick and spent a lot of time in hospitals.
When she was well enough, the tiny park across the street from her house on Greenbridge Drive was Rebekah's favorite place to be.
“It was just her refuge when she would leave the hospital and didn't have anybody to play with because they were in school,” her mother, Colleen Leithren, said. “She would come home and she would swing on the swings and hang from the monkey bars.”
In 2005, at the age of 12, Rebekah died from complications of a heart transplant. A year later, her parents and neighbors successfully mounted a petition drive to have her favorite park named in her honor.
New Castle County recently renovated Rebekah G. Leithren Park, and on Wednesday, County Executive Matt Meyer joined members of the Leithren family to rededicate the park and unveil a new sign honoring Rebekah.
“It's really important that we continue to honor her tremendous memory, knowing that in various ways, her memory lives with all of us,” Meyer said.
The park is located in the Greenbridge neighborhood, which is off Old Newark Road, nestled between Brookside, Kimberton and Todd Estates. The recent renovation project added new playground equipment, a bench, swings and a spinner.
Meyer noted that while large parks like Glasgow and Carousel get most of the attention, it's often the county's many smaller parks that have the biggest impact on the community.
“The special parks are these little neighborhood parks that get used every single day by people like Bekah and her sisters and brothers,” he said.
Born in 1993, Rebekah had hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which means that one side of her heart was undeveloped. She had several surgeries as a newborn to fix the problem, but complications arose around the time she started school.
She was diagnosed with Protein Losing Enteropathy, or PLE, a condition that sometimes afflicts kids who had heart surgery.
PLE causes a patient to lose blood protein through the intestinal tract. As the protein level in the bloodstream falls, blood plasma leaks into the body's tissues, which can be seen in swelling of the patient's face, abdomen and extremities. As the disease progresses, the body attacks its internal organs as a source of protein.
The PLE caused Rebekah to have migraines, stomach aches and fatigue, but still she tried to live as normal a life as possible.
“Even though she was born with only half a heart, she had a full life,” Colleen Leithren said. “People wouldn't know the problems that she had because she didn't want anybody to know. She wanted to be a regular kid, and she was.”
In November 2005, Rebekah had a heart transplant, which doctors told her family was the last hope to save her. During the surgery, she had internal bleeding and never woke up from the operation.
Her mother remembers her as a funny, outgoing kid who loved meeting new friends.
“Rebekah loved life so much and cared about everybody else,” she said.
Leithren and the other family members who attended the rededication ceremony were happy to see Rebekah's name live on.
“It's just very touching to think that her name is still impacting families,” Leithren said. “It makes it a welcoming park instead of just a neighborhood park.”
Leithren's son now lives in the family home across the street from the park, and her grandchildren – Rebekah's nieces and nephews – now play there.
“I hope that it continues to bring lots of families and kids here and becomes a fun place for everybody to come to for years,” she said.
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