Wednesday, August 7, 2002
|
Wednesday, August 7, 2002 |
|
Spaghetti dinner and silent auction to raise funds for local girl
By MICHAEL
BOYLAN
Samantha Caldwell and her sister, Nicole, were born prematurely at 24 weeks. Nicole is a typical, healthy three-year-old but Samantha had an interventricular hemorrhage when she was less than two weeks old and now suffers from multiple disabilities. Though the list of Samantha's medical conditions is long, her parents, Fayetteville residents Stacey and Bobby Caldwell, have hope that she may one day overcome many of these disabilities. In September, Samantha will attend a session at Euromed, a rehabilitation center in Mileno, Poland that has had many successes in teaching non-ambulatory children how to walk and non-verbal children how to speak. Samantha currently cannot walk or speak. She has cerebal palsy, epilepsy, hydrocephalus, asthma, visual impairment and developmental delays. She is a student at the Joseph Sams School in Fayetteville and receives all of the available therapies. The Caldwells are very excited about the Euromed program however and feel that this may give Samantha the best chance in one day walking and communicating independently. Euromed uses an adapted cosmonaut suit called the Adeli Suit to teach people how to walk. The suit is a system of rubber bands attached to shoulder pads and a wide belt worn around the hips connected with kneepads and specially adapted shoes. The suit provides the wearer with the proper body alignment and gait pattern and helps the wearer achieve normalization of muscle tension. Euromed has also had success in helping others increase speech. Each session at Euromed, which lasts 28 days, costs approximately $10,000. The Caldwells are trying to raise $30,000 for a total of three sessions. They have established the Samantha Danielle Caldwell Trust Fund at First Union National Bank in Fayetteville and have held a number of fund-raising events including a car wash, a yard sale and a bake sale. They will have a spaghetti dinner and silent auction this Saturday night at North Fayette Baptist Church from 6-8:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 each. Phone Stacey Caldwell at 770-461-0175 or Brenda Hallman at 770-460-9954 to purchase a ticket or make a donation to the auction.
|
||