Amelia at her first Dance Your Dreams! class |
Meet Amelia. She is currently
9-years-old, I think? I need to check her enrollment form to be sure - I know
she’s been with our program for four years and was 6-years-old when she
started, so I’m pretty sure she is about to turn 10-years-old - but I could be
wrong. We have 40 children now in the 3-21 age group, who are active with us in
our weekly arts education program, plus an additional 40 adults with
disabilities - sometimes the details escape me.
When we met Amelia, Hayley and I
were intimidated. Amelia was immobile at the time, she is non-verbal and she
wears cochlear implants. While she appeared to be vigorously healthy, not frail
like a few of our first students were, we didn’t know what we could teach her
to do or how to go about teaching her without hurting her. She couldn’t speak,
remember, so if we did some sort of stretch with her that was painful, how
would we know we had hurt her if she couldn’t say “Oww!”? How would we be able
to communicate what we wanted her to do if she couldn’t speak, couldn’t hear,
and couldn’t do sign language because her fine motor skills are impaired by
cerebral palsy?
Her mother, Brandy, is absolutely
hands-down the most impressive young mom I’ve ever met, and that’s saying a lot
given how much I admire and respect all of the parents in our programs. She has
calmness about her; she radiates happiness and contentment every time I see
her. When explaining Amelia’s limitations to us, she expressed no more concern
than if she were telling us Amelia’s preference for what to have for snack; oh,
but wait a minute, back then, we couldn’t even give Amelia a snack because the
cerebral palsy made swallowing difficult for Amelia.
When Brandy explained this to us,
four years ago, she told us that the swallowing issue caused Amelia to drool
quite a bit and that if anyone found that distasteful, please let her know and
she would send Amelia with a bib. Not only did it floor me that Brandy could
tell us something about her child that is so devastating - she cannot swallow
her food like the rest of us - but when she told us that, she was actually
apologizing for the effect that had and was offering to correct it. She
explained all of this to us in her sweet, upbeat voice with that big smile of
hers that lights up her face - a smile framed by two adorable dimples - letting
us know without saying it outright that she knows her daughter’s challenges
might be hard for other people to handle, and that’s okay with Brandy. No judgment
from her, no bitterness from her; nothing ever comes from Brandy but pure,
unadulterated joy and love for life and for her precious family. When we met,
four years ago, Amelia had a little brother; today, a little sister has joined
the family - a precious little sprite who is always dressed in the cutest
outfit and who loves to run around our lobby, playing games with the other
siblings who are waiting in our lobby each week.
Now, when we started our first
class way back in October 2008, my husband, Alan, had a hard time coming to
watch the kids at first. Like many people, Alan’s first reaction was
overwhelmingly emotional, and he literally couldn’t stay in the dance studio
for more than a few minutes without his eyes welling with tears, his throat
tightening, as the emotions swelled in his heart; emotions like admiration for
the bravery and courage of the little children who were attempting to do things
their little bodies couldn’t do and amazement at their achievements. Alan and I
are both so humbled and grateful that we’ve been able to play a role in
facilitating opportunities for our students and sometimes, we can both be
overcome with pride that we’ve been able to do this and with regret that we
can’t do more (or that we didn’t do this sooner and that we can’t do it bigger,
etc.). Alan said he would get emotional for the same reasons you get emotional
when you see someone accomplish a remarkable athletic feat or hear about an
unbelievable act of bravery - because when you are presented with evidence of
what truly amazing things human beings are able to achieve, it can be
incredibly emotional.
Amelia after she performed at Panoply 2009 |
Because he didn’t want to have a
complete breakdown in front of the parents, he would usually only stay in the
dance studio for five minutes or so. But one day, he walked into the studio
during that first class and Amelia twisted herself around in her wheelchair,
reaching out for him. Alan approached her, leaned down and said, “Hi Amelia!
How are you today?” She smiled at him - the biggest, slobberiest, most
beautiful smile he had ever seen - and just like that, Alan was in love. Brandy
told me later that she thinks the reason Amelia took to Alan so quickly and so
forcefully was because she can hear the vibrations from men’s voices better
than from women’s voices, but more than that, Brandy is convinced that Amelia
knew without being told that Alan was the person responsible for making class
available to her. Anyway, from that moment until today, when Amelia is in the
building, she can recognize the tone of Alan’s voice as soon as he comes near
her, breaks out into that beautiful smile and reaches out to him - only now,
she can actually walk to him!
See, Amelia has moved out of her
wheelchair to a walker, but when she’s at her dance class, we leave the walker
against the wall - she doesn’t need it when she is wearing her leg braces and
has her coach to support her. Amelia can walk now, something the doctors and
therapists told Brandy would probably never happen. When she comes to Merrimack
Hall, she heads straight for the elevator, pushes the button by herself, gets
off in the dance studio, leaves her walker against the wall and goes straight
to the ballet barre, where she knows her weekly lesson begins. Her favorite
part of class is when they chasse, a particular ballet move, across the floor.
It was the chasse that was the
first move Amelia did for us. Hayley happened to realize that if she faced
Amelia and held her hands in front of her, as opposed to standing behind her
and supporting her at the waist, Amelia could chasse - even though she couldn’t
walk, she could execute the sideways steps of a chasse. When Amelia did this
for the first time, every teenager and adult in the room screamed - out loud! Someone
ran downstairs to get Brandy to come and watch. It was a pretty big day at
Merrimack Hall, as we watched precious Amelia dance for the first time.
She’s getting bigger and stronger
every day and walking is becoming easier for her. Brandy told me that Amelia’s
physical therapist believes it is her involvement in our program that allowed
Amelia to walk; I’m sure the extensive therapy she receives, plus the hands-on
attention of her parents is the reason but her physical advances, but I bet our
dance program hasn’t hurt! She loves to be on stage, smiling from ear-to-ear at
the audience. She may not be able to hear their applause, but she can tell in
the faces of those watching her that they approve of her performance. Alan
loves all of our kids - he is especially close to the guys in Project UP - and
knows some of our kids better than others simply because he’s not at Merrimack
Hall every day. But his heart will always belong to Amelia. After all, she’s
the one who taught him that there’s nothing to cry about when children are
reaching their dreams.
Debra Jenkins, Chairman
3 comments:
It was amazing for me to read this inspirational story. my daughter has cerebral palsy also. It's pretty severe as well. I wish Amelia and her family the best of luck with everything. But I am curious on getting more info about your program. how would I do that?
Thank you so much for your comment! To learn more about our programs, visit www.merrimackhall.com, or email me directly at jenkinsdebra@me.com. I would love to provide you with all the details of what we do!
Debra Jenkins, Founder
Merrimack Hall Performing Arts Center
Huntsville, Alabama
Hi Debra: Thank you so much for this blog. It was a little confusing to sign up so I could post a comment, & I just want you to know that is why there aren't many comments. Please don't let that discourage you from future blog entries. Believe me this has been all over facebook, with a lot of positive comments for your program. I am so grateful for all that you, Alan, Haley, & all of the volunteers you have helping these children & adults to have this wonderful opportunity to express themselves, build their self esteem & socialize. I also think it's a blessing for the volunteers. You are a blessing to all of them, their families & Huntsville! Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Teri McInerney (Amelia's Grammy)
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