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| Couple's CD raise money for Cystic Fibrosis Foundation | ||||||||
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Czajka died five years ago at age 29 from complications of cystic fibrosis, a fatal, genetic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system. |
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As a youngster, she was a cute, bubbly child with red pipe curls. At the end of her life, as she visited loved ones to say good-bye, Czajka remained just as cute and bubbly, cruising around in her red Mazda with an oxygen supply hanging over her shoulder. In between, there was a lot of pain, fatigue and worry, but she finished hairdressing school and
worked as long as she could, refusing to collect disability. "Penny was a very special person and a real fighter, and I don't think she should be lying in that ground," said Jane Weyant, 61, of Milford. "I know that she's an angel now." That belief certainly fits with Weyant's posthumous gift to her favorite niece: a compact disc of jazz tunes called "Penny's in Heaven." All the proceeds will go to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Connecticut Chapter to help find a cure. The tunes, most of them classics, were recorded by Charlie Weyant, 63, a well-known saxophone player in the shoreline area who plays five nights a week with various groups, including Bill's Seafood Jazz All Stars, Hot Cat Jazz Band, 1917, Florence Adams Quartet. Weyant, who never knew Penny because he and Jane have been married less than two years, always wanted to make a CD. One day, Jane who describes herself as his "roadie" of 10 years asked if he wanted to make a CD to make money or to make a musical statement. When Charlie told her he wasn't in it for the money, Jane proposed the charity CD, and Charlie rallied his favorite area musicians, most of whom donated their talent. By day, Charlie Weyant is an auto parts manager at a dealership in Norwalk. He thought of the clever CD title and ended his musical dream with a tune that didn't originate with Frank Loesser or Duke Ellington: The theme from "The Flintstones." Penny was a Flintstones fanatic with an extensive collection of memorabilia and a permanent Fred Flintstone tattoo. "I've wanted to do a CD for a long time, and I knew I was never going to get rich from it, so this made great sense," Weyant said. "From all the people I talk to, she was a fun-loving person a hellraiser, I call it. She sounds like my kind of person we would have had a ball." Since the CD became available in June, the Weyants have raised about $3,000 for the foundation and hope that number will climb. The CD is sold at Charlie Weyant's gigs and in two local gift shops, the Canvas Patch and Somewhere In Time. Part of the goal of fund-raisers is to raise awareness of cystic fibrosis not a high-profile disease such as cancer or muscular dystrophy and a CD is great because it taps a different market than the usual walk-a-thon or dinner, said Paul Drury, executive director of Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Connecticut Chapter. "It's awesome, because this is a whole new audience for us, and we need to find a cure," Drury said. Drury, who grew up in Cheshire, speaks from personal experience. Afflicted by cystic fibrosis, Drury had a double lung transplant eight years ago to save his life an operation Penny spent years waiting for. Drury, the only cystic fibrosis sufferer to head a chapter out of 80 chapters in the country, said he has made it his career, too, because he feels he is doing something for "all the other kids" who suffer with the disease. Except with his closest friends, Drury covered up the disease in school although, like Penny, he had to make excuses for his cough because he didn't want anyone to worry or treat him differently. "Now I'll tell anybody my story," he said. Drury, 36, added that the median life expectancy of a person with cystic fibrosis is 32-years-old. "When you look at it in those terms, a mid-life crisis is not passing a driving test," he said. Penny got to pass her driving test, but she didn't get her transplant in time. Her health plummeted after contracting an organism that cystic fibrosis sufferers can pass to each other. Losing the race for a transplant devastated Penny's mom, Beth Czajka, 57, of Cromwell. But Beth Czajka found an incredible way to ease that pain a year ago, she donated a kidney to a friend and fellow antique dealer. "It was something I felt I needed to do," said Beth Czajka, who, with her husband Steve, owns Elizabeth's Antiques in Cromwell. "I couldn't let her go through what my daughter went through waiting, waiting for a call that never came." Czajka, still reeling from her daughter's death, said Penny was "the bravest person I ever knew." "The day before she went to the hospital, she wanted to go to the mall ... I had no idea (that Penny was going to die)," she said. Czajka said she finds it emotionally difficult to be directly involved with cystic fibrosis causes, but keeps Penny's memory alive in other ways. The money raised for Penny's transplant through fund-raisers is now used in her name to help others who need transplants. Czajka also donates gifts at Christmas to a children's home in the Middletown area. She donated some of the fund money to produce the CD, when her sister came up with the idea. Czajka loves the music, as well as the gesture. Her favorite song on the CD is "When Sunny gets Blue." "What they did all of them, the musicians and Jane it's beyond being a sister," she said. "He's only been my brother-in-law for two years, and he's wonderful," Czajka said of Charlie Weyant. But Jane Weyant said it's her sister who should be admired. It was her sister's selfless act of donating a kidney that got her wheels turning about the need to do something more for Penny. Aside from enlisting her husband, she organized all the CD business and designed the cover featuring Penny's favorite picture of herself from high school. "This whole CD is her creation," Charlie Weyant said. Jane Weyant said her sister always joked that Penny should have been her daughter. The two's birthdays were only four days apart and they had the same tastes, including a love of the color purple and a penchant for glamour. Weyant said Penny polished her nails even though they were clubbed from a lack of oxygen. Most of all, they had a spiritual "connection," Weyant said. "She said her goodbye to me, but never actually said it," Weyant said. Shortly before Penny died, she showed up on her aunt's birthday with a teddy bear holding a purple iris earrings and pin. Weyant said it was unusual for Penny to give her such a lavish gift. Today that set is neatly packed away for safekeeping. Weyant wears the birthstone ring she once gave Penny. The last words on the CD are: "Yabba Dabba Doo." They are also the words on Penny's gravestone. Anyone interested in buying a CD can call Weyant at (203) 878-6194.[or go to http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/weyant] Pam McLoughlin can be reached at (203) 876-6800 or pmcloughlin@nhregister.com . |
| ©New Haven Register 2002 |
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