Miracle hoping for a miracle

“IF I can get a chance to walk properly, you know, to run and feel the wind in my face, I would be the happiest girl in the whole wide world.”

This is the wish of 12-year-old Miracle Dookie who suffers with a disease that makes walking a painful experience and running, an impossibility.

Miracle who attends Morvant Anglican Primary school was diagnosed with a medical condition called Arthrogryosis Multiplex Congenita (AMC), a disease of childbirth resulting in decreased flexibility of the joints. Symptoms differ from person to person and may include muscle weakness.

Miracle needs $300,000 to pay for corrective surgery to her legs that can be done at the Narayana Health Facility in Mumbai, India. The money will pay for the surgery, airfare and accommodation for Miracle who would have to stay at least two months in India for post-operative care. The airfare alone is $32,400 for Miracle and one accompanying parent.

Miracle’s mother Felisha Holder appealed to the public for any help to raise funds for her daughter.

Miracle had undergone four surgeries to both legs locally in the hope that the deformity can be corrected and she can walk without the aid of crutches.

“All her surgeries were done at the Princess Elizabeth Home and we were told late last year that the option left was to amputate her left leg because if any more surgery is done she will have no use of that leg.

“Over the months I did a lot of research and in December, we contacted the Health City Hospital in the Cayman Islands for a second opinion. We had to make a video of her which we showed via online to the consultant and it was then that we learnt of a hospital in India which specialises in such surgeries and that her legs can be save,” Holder said.

“I can’t work because I have to provide constant care for her. Miracle is my second child out of four children. Right now I do not know where to turn to again for help.

“I recently put a picture and some information on Facebook seeking assistance but people saw Miracle and began teasing her. Now she no longer wants to go to school. I only did it to get help. If we can get some help we will be absolutely grateful,” Holder said.

Holder said she tried to borrow money last December to take her daughter to the Cayman Islands to be examined by the consultants but this was unsuccessful. While a date is not set for her daughter’s surgery, Holder said the family is doing what it takes to start to raise funds for Miracle.

“We have gotten permission from the Commissioner of Police to have donation sheets issued but we are only allowed to ask the public for $277,000. I don’t know how we are going to come up with that kind of money.

“I do not work and my husband is self employed with welding and works his car as a taxi.

Due to the fact that she only started walking at five, I had to stay home to take care of her.”

Holder said she visited MP Fitzgerald Hinds for assistance but to date there has been no response from the MP. “She started to use crutches to walk about seven years ago but it is getting more and more painful for her to move around.

When questioned as to her greatest wish, the shy child said that she wanted to run. If you are willing to help, Miracle’s relatives can be reached at 736-7470 or 727-0025.