When her daughter arrives home late from school with her backpack bursting at the seams, she expects the worst. Then she sees wads of cash inside. When she finally sees the wads of cash inside, she realizes that it’s something that her daughter set up. Tired after a long delivery, the young mother and anxious father welcomed their infant daughter into the world and they immediately realized something was wrong. It appeared that her legs were not like that of other infants.
Terrified, they looked to the doctors and saw the worry on their faces. They knew instantly that their baby was in for a long road ahead. Within a few short days, the tiny girl was to undergo her first of a series of intricate surgeries, all with the outcome of correcting her legs. Each surgery left the new parents broken and scared. But they had to remain strong for the new life they created.
And they drew comfort from the fact that the baby was not in any pain. Straight away, they began searching for elusive answers. After countless visits with doctors, they determined that their baby had been born with Larsen syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that only one in 1000 people has. The disorder affects the development of bones throughout the body, some as harmless as a hammer toe, but often with far more serious and far reaching complications. They needed to know exactly how great an extent this affected their newborn.
The answers were more terrible than they could dream. They had named her Eddie, and the parents clearly remembered the day they were told the extent of her health problems. Her legs weren’t straight and would affect her ability to walk. The doctors told the still hopeful parents that they feared she would never be able to walk. But refusing to give in, they knew they would do whatever it took to give Addy a normal life.
But where did they begin? Finally, after four surgeries to her legs, the new family could go and start their life at home and out of the hospital. Even though the Texas Scottish Ride Hospital does all it can to make both the parents and children feel as though they weren’t in a hospital at all, it was still a relief to finally go home. Addie was growing up beautifully, just as any regular child. She was mobile in her own way, and her parents were just happy that even though her legs looked awkward, they didn’t cause Eddie any pain.
For her, it was just normal. There was a long road ahead for all of them, but where it was leading would only find out much later. By the age of seven, Addy had up to 65 surgeries to correct her legs. And the perseverance of this fearless young girl, her endlessly supportive parents and the amazing hospital had gotten her to the point where she was able to walk and run like any healthy childhood. But more was in store for this family.
Just out of sight because Addy had spent so much of her young life at Texas Scottish Right Hospital, either in surgery, recovering, or going through physical therapy. She was always happy to be out and about, running around, going to school, and making friends. But no one even suspected that she was hiding something huge. Addy spent a lot of time away from home. She wasn’t at the hospital, and her parents suspected that she was just enjoying playing in the summer sun with her school friends, as all children should.
They didn’t know that Addie was far from playing. Her mom only suspected something was amiss. When her daughter’s backpack kept coming home bigger and bigger, until one day she had to look inside. After her daughter was snugly asleep for the night, her mother went to find the growing backpack. She just had to know what her daughter was doing, lugging something so huge in and out of the house every day.
But when she unzipped it, her heart stopped as piles and pond piles of cash began spilling out. Where on Earth and her seven year old found thousands of dollars in cash. Afraid of what Addie may be involved in, she thought of walking up right then and there to confront her, but decided that she needed to calm down and would ask Eddie in the morning what Eddie had been hiding would soon be confronted, but the reason behind the act was going to be astounding the next morning, a curious yet nervous mother broached the subject of the enormous sum of money her daughter had somehow gotten into her possession. She was terrified of what she may hear, but she should have trusted her daughter, because when Annie began to tell her story, her mother’s eyes filled with tears and her heart thudded with pride. She began completely oblivious to the magnitude of her campaign and her mother’s shock.
I just told a sign that says, for my birthday wish, I want to raise $8,000 for Texas Scottish White Hospital. That was when her mother’s heart broke with love for the sweet child who had gone through so much immense trials. She would do absolutely anything to help Addy get her birthday wish. Her mom could now be seen standing alongside Addy at the intersection in a busy neighborhood in Houston, Texas. It wasn’t long before people began to talk about the generosity of this tiny girl who, once doctors thought would never walk, was now standing in the Texas heat on her own.
2ft trying to give back to the hospital that had given her so much. Her story was soon published and with a typical snowball effect. It went viral and was even picked up by many leading newspapers and TV channels. Her story just kept appearing all over the Internet, and her dreams of $8,000 were not only met, but exceeded. Just how far could she go?
With the help of her mother and in an extremely short space of time, Annie had raised almost $20,000 and it wasn’t showing any signs of slowing down yet. An anonymous letter and a check arrived at her doorstep one day and closing the crazy amount of $50,000 to be put towards helping children just like Addy. But just why did Addy take on this huge task for the hospital? As we know, Eddie was born with this terrible hardship. Her parents weren’t even remotely prepared for all the costs that were involved.
Nevertheless, they were determined to help her lead a healthy life. Addie’s family accepted the generosity of the hospital in her time of need. Hospitals like Texas Scottish Wright actually run on donations. They rely on donations to provide the care that children need, even if their families can’t afford it. The media played a massive part in letting Eddie realize her birthday wish.
They spread her messages message far and wide and the response from the public was outstanding. This young girl had touched the hearts of everyone, never focusing on the negatives in her life. She said, I want to give the money to the hospital for new prosthetics for other children like me.