A New Day

Fourth of July celebrations are just around the corner. Fireworks booths are popping up on corner lots throughout our cities. We’re getting ready for picnics and parties. Everyone, that is, but the firemen who stand ready to respond, hoping to squelch errant sparks before they become out-of-control wildfires.

Dora Barilla’s A New Day is a tearful yet triumphant story of one fireman, her husband, who was tragically and almost fatally injured responding to a call. What better time to remember the men and women who work so hard to make our summer celebration so beautiful and safe?

Pepperdine University alumna Dora Barilla was recently interviewed by her alma mater regarding her book, A New Day: A true story of healing, faith, and miracles.

“Dora Barilla’s young daughter has a photo frame in her room with an affirmation written on the edges saying, “Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, but about dancing in the rain.” While the rest of Southern California enjoyed cloudless skies on March 15, 2005, Barilla (BA ‘91) will always remember it as the day the storm hit her family and they had to learn to do just that: dance in the rain.”

Read the article here.

Tom Barilla (R) with members of his 'second family' - the Upland Fire Department

by Carolyn Hayes Uber

The very first copy!

Presenting the first copy to a new author is just one of the best things I do. When I dropped by Dora Barilla’s home with the first copy of A New Day, she’d just returned from the gym. Her wide grin says it all. For Dora, and her husband Tom, A New Day represents far more than the long hours of writing. The book details the traumatic brain injury suffered by firefighter Tom in a horrific fire truck collision that nearly killed him.

In painstaking detail, Dora recounts the days sitting by Tom’s bedside as he lay in a coma, the numerous surgeries he endured, the endless hours of rehabilitation, and weeks of nasty litigation.

Dora tells the story of her struggle to maintain optimism for her family and friends as well as keep her own sanity. A professor at Loma Linda Medical University, Dora is in a unique position to share their story, both professionally and personally. Tom and Dora’s dearest wish is to “Pay it Forward” helping other families of victims of traumatic brain injury, and in fact, they’ve designated proceeds from the book to benefit them.

Dora speaks to clubs, churches, and organization about their experiences and how through faith, healing, and miracles, each day is a blessed New Day for the Barilla family.