Joanne Kathleen Rowling

A hero is someone who does heroic deeds. I’m not talking about the heroes on TV who fly to peoples rescues in a red cape; I’m talking about an ordinary day hero. An ordinary day hero doesn’t zoom around in fast cars chasing bad guys. In my opinion, they simply help people in need, show kindness to others, do what they can to make the world a better place, and love those who truly need it. My hero, J.K. Rowling is an ordinary day hero.

Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born in Chipping Sodbury near Bristol, England on July 31, 1965. One year and eleven months later her sister and only sibling Di was born. The Rowling family moved twice. First when J.K. was four and again around her ninth birthday. The two schools she went to were very different.

After secondary school in Chepstow (the second place where she moved) she went to Exeter University. She got a job as a secretary then, later, she went to Portugal where she taught English. While in Portugal she married a Portuguese man and had her first child Jessica. I’m sad to say the marriage did not work out but J.K. did get remarried and now lives with her husband and three children in Scotland.

Now what’s so heroic about these events? You’re probably asking. The answer is nothing, because I’m just getting to that part now.

During the time when J.K. was in Portugal she started writing a story. This story grew and grew and now about everyone in the world knows about these stories. They are the stories of a young wizard named Harry Potter. J.K. has written five tales of this boy’s journeys through hard times and the love of his friends that always keeps him going, but I’m not here to talk to you about Harry Potter. I’m here to talk to you about what J.K. Rowling did for a young girl named Catie who had cancer.

Catie was a normal girl whose world was turned upside down because of a tumor that later turned into cancer. While Catie was in the hospital her mom read her the first three Harry Potter books. Catie liked the books a lot because she felt that she was a lot like Harry because Harry was always facing battles and Catie was facing a battle with cancer.

Catie’s cancer gradually got worse and there were no more treatment plans so Catie was sent home and she was afraid that she wouldn’t get to read book 4. Word spread and J.K. Rowling soon heard of this young girl who was finding hope in her books. J.K. sent her a letter that said, “I’m working very hard on book 4 at the moment” and she told Catie about the chapter she was working on. Catie and J.K. developed a relationship. When book 4 was finally finished J.K. read it to Catie over the phone as she spent her last days at home. Catie died on May 18th in 2000. Her family started the Catie Hoch Foundation to help young cancer patients. In November of the same year that Catie died a check for 100,000 dollars was sent to the charity from Catie’s pen pal and friend J.K. Rowling.

J.K. Rowling may not be a real important hero to you but what she did was heroic. She gave Catie a reason to live her last days to the fullest through her stories and most of all through her friendship. She gave an excellent charity a whole bunch of her money and she has given many children the greatest literature of their time. Reports say that children who could barely read at all jumped two reading levels in a short period of time. You can’t tell me that it was just the books that did the heroic deeds because I don’t see books writing themselves. The real hero is the writer and that’s J.K. Rowling.