Each week, the Shreveport-Bossier Journal’s Tony Taglavore takes to lunch a local person – someone who is well-known, successful, and/or influential, and asks, “What’s Your Story?”
By TONY TAGLAVORE, Journal Services
Nothing tests a parent’s faith more than their child’s sickness.
“I was getting ready to go to an event. I had just given him a bath and Tylenol to keep a fever down.”
Almost out the door, she heard a “god-awful scream.”
“Domonique!”
Her husband was holding their son, whose lips were purple.
“(My husband) said, ‘Oh God, please don’t take my baby . . . . He’s not waking up. He’s going to die!”
Their neighbor was a nursing student.
“I’m knocking on the door. Kicking the door . . . . My husband had run over there with him . . . . She took his temperature. It was like 104 or 105.”
They jumped in the truck, headed to the hospital, and called 9-1-1.
“I said, ‘Could you please call Willis Knighton Bossier and tell them I’m on the way? I will be there in three minutes.”
When the frantic parents arrived, a team of doctors was waiting, and hustled the almost lifeless child back to the emergency room.
“I left my car running. I had heels on and could not run fast enough, so I kicked my heels off . . . . They didn’t tell me to go back there. I just went back there. I pushed open the door . . . . My husband was crying and couldn’t talk.
“Just please save him.”
They did.
“He had a febrile seizure, which is a seizure induced by a fever . . . Since he was a little baby, his body could not regulate . . . . The fever was outworking the Tylenol. They said as bad as it looked, his body did exactly what it was supposed to do.”
48-year-old Domonique Benn, in her 15th year as an anchor at KSLA-TV, told me that frightening story – and her story – during lunch at a place she chose – Panera Bread. Domonique had half an Italian Market Salad, a cup of Street Corn Soup, and an iced tea. I enjoyed a full-sized (imagine that) Strawberry Poppyseed Chicken Salad, a bowl of Street Corn Chowder, and water.
“I think my faith got stronger . . . . I couldn’t lean on anybody else but God in that moment. I think it changed my outlook. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Don’t be negative toward things. Don’t think about negativity, but positivity. Speak positively.”
Chandler is now seven years old and in good health. Domonique, who along with her husband of 20 years also has an 11-year-old daughter (Sydney, who was born two months early), is an only child. She was born and raised in central Florida – 20 miles from Disney World.
“My mother really wanted me to go into acting. I had a voice coach. I had seven agents. I would go over to Disney and Universal (Studios). They had sound stages, and you would audition. I was part of (the TV show) Divorce Court. They took real scenarios, but you played the part. I played the part of a 13-year-old girl.
From there, Domonique – who was a tom boy in her childhood years – moved on to national television commercials.
In grade school, Domonique struggled with reading comprehension. That struggle greatly improved thanks to – at her parents’ insistence – years of tutoring. Once in high school, Domonique made mostly straight A’s, graduating co-salutatorian, with a 4.4 grade point average.
“I had to work hard. I was a first-generation college student. My mom was like, ‘Whatever it takes.’ If it was vocabulary, she was writing out words on an index card and helping me study. I was looking at those index cards throughout the night and acing the test. That is what I do with my daughter now.”
Domonique, who is on her high school’s Wall of Fame, earned a scholarship to the University of Florida. Thinking she wanted to be physical therapist, her career path took a turn when she figured out science “wasn’t my thing.” Always inquisitive, and having been involved in public speaking, Domonique switched to journalism.
“I really found my niche.”
That “niche” took Domonique to Mississippi, Georgia, and Virginia, before moving to Shreveport in late 2010. For eight years, she co-anchored the evening newscasts. But in 2021, in an effort to boost ratings, station management switched the popular anchor to the morning newscast.
“I prayed about it, and for a while, I was like, ‘Why was I moved?’ But it has been the best thing for me. I’m home with my kids every single night. I’m a present parent. I’m able to go to all of their extracurricular activities. I’m able to take them to practices. I’m able to do homework with them and tuck them in at night.”
To the winner of three prestigious regional Edward R. Murrow awards – “I’m still trying to get an Emmy”— Shreveport-Bossier feels like home. But . . . .
“I’m not saying I’m unhappy here and I want to leave, but it’s always been a goal of mine to get closer to home. Both parents are (in their mid-70’s). It’s always, ‘Hey, I want to get back. I want to take care of my parents. But until then, I’m happy here. My husband loves it here. My children were born here.”
Knowing Domonique had been up long before the sun, I asked my final question. As always, what is it about her life story that she thinks can be helpful to others?
“I have a very strong faith in God. It took me a while to get here with my faith. I would question, ‘Why didn’t I get that? Why didn’t this happen?’ But realizing whatever God says, you have to accept what he allows. That’s what I’ve done in my career . . . . Accept what God allows and have faith.
It sounds like Domonique’s faith passed the test.
Do you know someone with a story? Email SBJTonyT@gmail.com.
The Journal’s weekly “What’s Your Story?” series is sponsored by Morris & Dewett Injury Lawyers.