Mom Looking To Make Birthday More Joyful For Daughter With Autism

ALSIP, IL — Self-quarantining during a global pandemic is difficult enough, but when you’re the parent of an adult child with special needs it becomes more real. Anna Marie Wail-Esparza, of Alsip, would like to make her daughter Katie’s birthday a little more joyful when she turns 35 this Friday, April 24.

The day is not only special for Katie, who has autism, but in a way it’s her mom’s birthday too, because that is the day Anna Marie became mother to a daughter.

“Katie has the mentality of a 3-year-old and looks 12,” Anna Marie said. “She can’t go to her workshop, so she’s home with me 24/7. It’s not hard, everybody is doing it. I’m keeping her busy. I read to her but I’m running out of reading material.”

When members of the Moms of Alsip Facebook Group learned Katie was too old for the Alsip Police Department’s Birthday Patrol that drives by youngsters’ homes to wish them a happy birthday, the Alsip moms got busy planning what has become the latest in social distancing trends — a birthday car parade.

“Katie loved it when the Easter Bunny went by,” Anna Marie said.

As a person with autism, routine and consistency are important to Katie. Pre-coronavirus, Katie attended UCP Seguin of Greater Chicago, a program that provides life skills training for adults with special needs to help them reach their fullest potential. Ten years ago, Katie had a double mastectomy when doctors found breast cancer.

“She sailed through it,” her mom said. “She’s a ten-year breast cancer survivor.”

This Friday is not only Katie’s birthday, it also happens to be the birthday of Anna Marie's favorite singer, Barbra Streisand.

“I love her,” Anna Marie says of Streisand. “My favorite all-time song is ‘People.’”

Some area residents may remember Anna Marie from her 27 years teaching second grade and CCD classes at St. Catejan School in Mount Greenwood. Katie’s older brother, Pete, is a lab technician at a Milwaukee hospital processing COVID-19 tests as fast as the ER doctors and nurses can bring the specimens in. Her husband, Mario, is a truck driver, so Anna Marie has been holding down the fort, taking care of her daughter.

Those wishing to join Katie’s birthday car parade are asked to start gathering at Marist High School, 4200 W. 115th St., Chicago, at 1:45 p.m. The parade will start at 2 p.m., when cars will head down the 4300 block of Linecrest Drive, Alsip. Many have already promised to come.

“I’m overwhelmed by people’s kindness to my daughter,” Anna Marie said. “Katie is going to be so surprised.”

Like the song says, “people who need people are the luckiest people in the world.”