St. Paul, MN -- There was a large tent and several law enforcement vehicles in the normal parking lot of O'Gara's on Snelling in St. Paul on Sunday. Hundreds had to park a half-a-dozen blocks away, but on a beautiful sunny afternoon, no one seemed to mind.
"Overwhelming, just completely overwhelming," St. Paul Patrol Officer Andy Heroux said, eyes scanning the benefit before him.
A benefit for him and his son.
Andy's wife Bri died two months ago, just two weeks after she gave birth to the couples' son Leland. Bri Heroux was a Stillwater Police Officer. Doctors say she died from complications of HELLP Syndrome, where pregnant women suffer from severe preeclampsia.
"She's looking down on us and she's always going to be with Leland and she's always going to be with me and our family, and I just want to do the best I can to make her proud," Andy Heroux explained.
"To coin a phrase; great officer but even a better person," Stillwater Sgt. Chris Felsch said.
Every Stillwater Police officer not on duty, and just about every St. Paul officer not on duty, attended the benefit. They were raising money to help pay for future surgeries for little Leland, who was born with part of his bladder outside his body.
"He means the world to me. Every time I look in his eyes I see our Bri and... already he's my best friend," Officer Heroux said.
Andy Heroux is also making it his goal to provide people with more awareness about HELLP Syndrome, an illness in pregnancy that lowers blood platelets and can damage the liver. It effects about 5% of all preeclampsia pregnancies. While it can be fatal, it is only fatal in extremely rare cases.
Officer Heroux will be back on the force with his fellow St. Paul Police Department Officers "really soon."
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
