I first met Michelle after I learned about Owen. I found the AMCSI group and Michelle was the first person to make contact. She is local and immediately offered to meet or talk on the phone. She has got an amazing heart and ever since I have known her, she is always helping others. When I met Zoe the first time she changed my expectations of AMC completely. Here was a little girl that was able to move around and up and down stairs despite not being able to walk. Zoe did what I call a split walk but that doesn’t begin to give an accurate description. She was fast, had a twinkle in her eye and watching her I felt relief. This wasn’t going to be so scary. It also helped having Michelle’s constant support so close by.
Fast forward to a hot day in September when the whole family came out to the Boundless Playground for the interview. It was about 80 degrees and humid but no one was complaining. Zoe recently started walking and it is just incredible to see. She is so determined that even when Michelle and Jerry tried to get her to rest, she kept going. When you see the footage, you’ll know what I mean. Incredible and I think the motivation was a princess doll?
We spent about 2 hours that day interviewing Miss Zoe, Jerry and Michelle. Their older brother Caleb was also on hand to help while we were filming. Zoe is a very lucky girl to have such a strong loving family. Both Michelle and Jerry felt a strong family network helped and to keep in mind it isn’t that bad. It can be hard but for so many of us, we were told our kiddos wouldn’t survive, so everyday is a celebration.
Zoe is a social butterfly and makes friends with everyone. We went to the farm attached to the playground. Zoe of course got the staff to bring a rooster (Roger) over to her so she could pet him. It didn’t faze her at all, she pet Roger and even her little brother Noah watched from a distance. Turned out to be a really great day. See some of the photos below and the full stream on Flickr.
Zoe Rides the Horse
Zoe and Roger the Rooster
Racing Against Dad
Family Photo
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Peg, it brought tears to my eyes and made me so proud that Zoe could have helped along your journey with Owen. You have an eye – those pictures are amazing! I loved reading the summaries and look forward all the rest. What a beautiful thing you are doing.
Michelle-easy to take great pictures with the perfect model. My fave is the one of Zoe on her horse. Can’t wait to post some of the videos so you can see what I saw that day.