Caring for kids with clubfeet
DEVIN WEEKS/Press Sorensen Magnet School of the Arts and Humanities fifth-grader Emmaline Spyra holds up the book “The War That Saved Me” while standing in front of her school Thursday. Emmaline raised nearly $400 she donated to the Shriners Children’s Hospital in Spokane to help pay for corrective treatment for kids with clubfeet. She was inspired to help because of the book, which is about a girl with a clubfoot who lives in sad isolation.
Shriners Children's Hospital — Spokane physical therapist Barb Harrison receives a check for nearly $400 from Sorensen fifth-grader Emmaline Spyra early Thursday morning. Emmaline was inspired to donate to the hospital to help kids with clubfeet after reading about the condition in a historical fiction novel and seeing a homeless man with clubfeet while on a family trip. (Courtesy photo)
Emmaline Spyra, a fifth-grader at Sorensen Magnet School of the Arts and Humanities, showcases a clubfoot splint Thursday morning while on a tour of the physical therapy area of the Shriners Children's Hospital in Spokane. The kind-hearted young lady held two bake sales to raise $373 to donate to the hospital, which is one of the only local hospitals that has pediatric orthopedic surgeons who can correct clubfeet. (Courtesy photo)
Fifth-grader Emmaline Spyra has experienced the power of reading.
After finishing "The War That Saved My Life," Kimberly Brubaker Bradley's historical fiction novel about a girl with a clubfoot living in painful isolation, Emmaline decided to take things into her own hands and raise money to help kids living with this condition in the real world.
"It just felt kind of sad that a girl, with a mom that was so mean, had a clubfoot and (the mom) didn’t want to correct it,” Emmaline said, standing in the sunshine outside her school Thursday afternoon. "A different person that wasn’t even her mom or her legal guardian corrected it. It felt a little moving. It felt sad that there could be a person out there like that."
Emmaline was encouraged to embark on her compassionate mission when she was on a family trip earlier this spring.
"We went to Seattle for a weekend and that’s where she came up with the idea," said Emmaline's mom, Vivien Spyra. "We saw a homeless man in a wheelchair with a clubfoot, and Emmaline said, ‘Look, he’s one of those kids that wasn’t able to have this surgery, and I feel like every kid should be able to.’”
The Sorensen Magnet School of the Arts and Humanities student organized bake sales and raised $373 that she donated to the Shriners Hospitals for Children — Spokane on Thursday morning.
"It means a lot. When younger people take the time to do that, it really shows how much they care about other kids," said Katy Phillips, occupational therapist and manager of the Spokane Shriners rehabilitation department. "She was willing to go the extra mile and learn about the disorder of clubfoot and how lucky we are to have it corrected in America. Other countries struggle with that."
Physical therapist Barb Harrison gave Emmaline a tour of the area where the therapists treat clubfoot and educated her about the birth defect, which twists feet out of shape or position.
"She wrapped my leg to show me how they do it, then she put a splint around it,” Emmaline said.
She said another piece of her motivation comes from how she had a deformity on her thumbs when she was little.
"I had it corrected, and I have a scar right there,” she said, gesturing to where her thumbs connect at the palms. "I didn’t really know until my mom told me five years later, so it was kind of surprising. I was looking at my hands one time, looking at all the lines I have, and I was like, ‘What’s this white line I have right here?’ because it was more visible. Then my mom told me."
Phillips said Emmaline's donation to the Shriners hospital will help at least 10 kids who need splinting and taping materials to take home when they are treated at the hospital.
“It’s a proud mom moment that I have a daughter that cares about other people and other children and that I have a little philanthropist," Vivien said. "I was a very proud mom, obviously very willing to help her with this endeavor."
Emmaline wants to give a shout-out to her 15 classmates who helped her with the baking, organizing, clean-up and money counting that went with the project.
She was all smiles as she shared how she felt about completing this selfless task.
"I felt happy of what I did," she said. "I felt good about it and I knew it was going to a good cause."