Evie Begalle returned to alertness after an afternoon nap. The energetic 2-year-old looked around the dining room table of her home in Andover and sized up her five siblings — Austin, 19; Cameron, 17; Abby, 15; Charlotte, 12; and Veronica, 10.
In unison, all of them held out their arms to cuddle her. Evie’s parents, Jill and Andy Begalle, both 44, asked Evie which one of them she wanted to go to. It was a friendly competition. They all offered her inviting smiles to go with their outstretched arms.
In the end, she chose Charlotte, a seventh grader at Epiphany Catholic School in Coon Rapids. Evie then jumped around to different laps and found her way to Cameron, a senior at Andover High School. Just one year ago, he became certified as a personal care attendant (PCA) so he could spend more time with Evie.
Evie has Down syndrome. Jill had a sense as she was carrying Evie in utero that Evie had this condition. Only momentarily did Jill and Andy feel grief. Once Evie began to show them her infectious and joyful personality, everything changed. Born on Sept. 4, 2022, Evie saw her siblings for the first time the day after her birth when they came to the hospital in Maple Grove. The five older siblings snuck into the room — COVID-19 protocols at that time only allowed two people in the room at a time. Their bond with Evie was instantaneous.
“It just naturally formed,” said Cameron, a three-sport athlete who will attend the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) in the fall and continue to play sports, starting with football. “It wasn’t forced. My parents weren’t like, ‘You need to love her more.’ It was just: She’s special and I want to protect her.”
The other four siblings felt the same way. When the family goes to Sunday Mass at their parish, St. Paul in Ham Lake, they all take turns holding Evie throughout the liturgy. Most Sundays, she gets passed all the way down the pew until each sibling gets a turn.
Starting when she was a few months old, Evie became a regular at Cameron’s football games, basketball games and track meets. She was even bundled up in late fall to attend his football games. He was a wide receiver on the football team, and he always looked for her in the crowd of fans.
“My mom takes her to the back of the end zone,” he said. “And after every time I score, I see them, and I give them a little wave.”
Then, in sign language, he adds a special message to Evie: “I love you.”
“My first touchdown this year was three games in,” he said. “I caught a touchdown in the left corner of the end zone and she was right there. It was like, ‘Oh, this is a great feeling.’”
Already, Cameron is letting his parents know that he wants Evie to come to his football games at UMD, where Andy and Jill met during the year and a half when they attended the Duluth school. Andy and Jill plan to take Evie there to watch Cameron’s games. They acknowledge the special bond the two siblings share and are happy to oblige.
The family also has shared Evie and her vibrant personality with extended family members, friends, parishioners and the broader community. The evening Evie was born, Jill texted people to let them know about the birth and that Evie had Down syndrome. Right away, one of her best friends, Angela Johnson, sent an inspiring text message. She is the daughter of Mary Ann Kuharski, founder of Prolife Across America, the organization that puts up billboards along freeways across the country.
The night of Evie’s birth, Jill and Andy had a lot to process. In addition to having Down syndrome, Evie was born with leukemia and a congenital heart defect that would require extensive medical intervention. Johnson then called her, and Jill poured out her heart to her friend.
“Angie was the first one to call me at the hospital,” Jill recalled. “She called me, and she cried along with me. And she congratulated me. She said, ‘I can’t wait to see Evie.’”
Her friend’s words turned grief into excitement. “To hear Angie’s voice of happiness and love and saying that over and over to me was amazing,” Jill said.
There was more that Jill’s friend had to say. The next day, Johnson told Jill that Prolife Across American wanted to feature Evie on its billboards. That led to a photo shoot that included shots of Evie alone and with each of her parents. Evie was only two-and-a-half weeks old. In about six months, Evie’s face started showing up on billboards across the country. Andy estimated there were “several hundred” billboards featuring Evie that were put up. Many of the billboards have appeared in Minnesota, the family noted.
“My friends will go by them and send me a picture,” Abby said.
“Me and my dad were on the way to North Dakota for a football visit,” Cameron recalled. “We drove right past it (a billboard with Evie on it). I took a picture of him next to it. We stopped on the road and then I took a picture and sent it to my mom and the rest of the kids.”
Evie’s face is enough to draw people to her. And she welcomes every encounter with another person, to the point where she seeks people out who look sad or lonely. Like the time Jill brought Evie and two of her sisters to the dentist. Evie spotted a woman who looked distraught and went up to her and offered a smile and a greeting. The woman smiled back and her anxiety over a procedure she was about to undergo melted away.
Evie does this at home, too. One time recently, Andy came home from a hard day at work and received comfort from a daughter who demonstrates strong intuition about the suffering of others.
“She just has a sixth sense when somebody is not doing well,” Andy said. “Two weeks ago, three weeks ago, I had a bad day at work, just a bad day. She would not leave me. She kept hugging me. She just knew that her dad was having a bad day.”
Evie’s simple gestures of comfort worked. “She allowed me to just calm down,” Andy said, “in a way that was so beneficial that I wouldn’t have been able to do on my own.”
Evie’s siblings receive her comfort, too. Sometimes, it’s a kiss on the forehead, other times little pats on the back during a long hug.
“If you’re having a bad day, she’ll just brighten you,” said Veronica. “I can’t imagine my life without her.”
“I’ve always said, ‘She’s impacted more people in her two and a half years than I ever will in my lifetime,” Jill said. “That’s what I truly believe. I can’t imagine what she’s going to do (throughout) her whole life.”
Evie continues to bring encouragement and joy to a world that sorely needs it. Rather than imagining how they will care for her as the years go by, the Begalles imagine how Evie can change the world for the better.
“I’m very excited to see how she is as she grows up,” said Austin, the oldest sibling. “We are very blessed to have someone so special in our family that not a lot of families get the chance to have.”
Cameron already has thought years ahead to the day when Evie’s parents might die while she is still living. Jill recounted Cameron’s simple pledge to Evie:
“No matter where I am, she’s going to have a room in my house.”
