For the past 25 years, MiniLaps has been one of the largest fundraisers at The Little Light House annually. Families of the LLH students will raise money for their child’s year at school. This year, MiniLaps will be held September 25th, 2010 at The Little Light House. Please help our children by making a donation and help them meet their goal! Please click here to see The Little Light House Student Directory to help others meet their goals!
Hayley Bollinger!
Welcome to Hayley Bollinger's Little Light House Mini Laps for Little Ones page!
Wow, I can’t believe I have finished my first year at The Little LightHouse. It’s me, Hayley and I just want to say thank you if you sponsored me last year for my first Mini-Laps. You should have seen me. I was dressed (in pink of course) as a Japanese Princess and my walker was a fiery dragon. Well not exactly fiery, but you get the picture. It was a lot of work getting around that track but everyone was cheering me on and clapping their hands and I made it. Because of all the work from my teachers and therapists at The Little LightHouse I am going to do this year’s lap all by myself. Can you believe it? It’s going to be great! You have got to see this!!! Now for the stuff I can’t pronounce…Take it away Mom…
Hayley is right. It is hard to believe we have finished out first year at the Little Light House. After seeing Xzavier (Hayley’s brother) miraculously take his first lap around the track we couldn’t wait to see what God had in store for Hayley. (Xzavier is at Helping Hands by the way, a school specializing in the hearing impaired) After 2 years of waiting we got the call. You do a great deal of waiting when you have special needs children. When Hayley was born at 26 weeks, she was nearly dead – no pulse, no heartbeat, no life. Her gray ashen body, weighing only a pound and a half, seemed to hold no hope. We waited… After numerous attempts to intubate her, the tube finally stayed in her trachea and allowed some air to flow through her lifeless body. After many announcements that many of her internal organs were missing, we waited. Miraculously each body part was located and somewhat functioning. Hayley spent months in the NICU battling many obstacles but showing that she was a fighter from the start. We waited anxiously until we could take her home in her special car bed and an apnea monitor. Haley continued to grow but was not developing her muscle strength. After a battery of tests, we again waited, only to find that Hayley had suffered brain damage and was diagnosed with spastic diplegia. We knew we were in this for the long haul. Hayley has undergone a great deal of therapies, orthotics and botox injections to loosen her leg muscles. After much consideration and prayer, we could wait no longer. Hayley’s muscles were so tight they were pulling her hips out of socket and damaging the bone structure in her feet. We took Hayley to St. Louis where she underwent a dorsal rhizotemy. A surgery for children with Cerebral Palsy that removes some vertebrae and permanently cuts damaged nerve endings. Because of prayer, surgery, and all of the training and therapy from The Little Lighthouse, Hayley was able to walk independently for the first time. What a miracle – and what we had been waiting for. (I know Hayley’s sister, Adalynn, was watching her from heaven when she took those first steps. How exciting it has been to be cooking in the kitchen and turn around and have Hayley standing right behind me. (That took a little getting used to) Every milestone is such a huge accomplishment. We still have a great deal of work to do. We have had some seizure activity of late and some of her muscle groups are fighting against her growth causing her to fall more frequently and have more pain, but Hayley is no quitter. She is ready to undergo whatever treatments she has to in order to keep moving forward. After all, she plans to be a ballerina and wear pink!!
We do not share this with you to make you feel badly for us but we do share this to help you understand the importance of a facility like the The Little Light House. The teachers, therapists and staff sacrifice so much to keep this school functioning with no federal funding and no tuition to its families as they understand the financial hardships many of us face due to our special needs children. It costs $17,000 a year per student to educate and treat these students. This is one of those times we can’t wait. Help us give back a little to this school and sponsor Hayley for Mini Laps this year. No amount is too small…or too great!!!
We love and appreciate all of you.
The Bollinger’s
Hayley is right. It is hard to believe we have finished out first year at the Little Light House. After seeing Xzavier (Hayley’s brother) miraculously take his first lap around the track we couldn’t wait to see what God had in store for Hayley. (Xzavier is at Helping Hands by the way, a school specializing in the hearing impaired) After 2 years of waiting we got the call. You do a great deal of waiting when you have special needs children. When Hayley was born at 26 weeks, she was nearly dead – no pulse, no heartbeat, no life. Her gray ashen body, weighing only a pound and a half, seemed to hold no hope. We waited… After numerous attempts to intubate her, the tube finally stayed in her trachea and allowed some air to flow through her lifeless body. After many announcements that many of her internal organs were missing, we waited. Miraculously each body part was located and somewhat functioning. Hayley spent months in the NICU battling many obstacles but showing that she was a fighter from the start. We waited anxiously until we could take her home in her special car bed and an apnea monitor. Haley continued to grow but was not developing her muscle strength. After a battery of tests, we again waited, only to find that Hayley had suffered brain damage and was diagnosed with spastic diplegia. We knew we were in this for the long haul. Hayley has undergone a great deal of therapies, orthotics and botox injections to loosen her leg muscles. After much consideration and prayer, we could wait no longer. Hayley’s muscles were so tight they were pulling her hips out of socket and damaging the bone structure in her feet. We took Hayley to St. Louis where she underwent a dorsal rhizotemy. A surgery for children with Cerebral Palsy that removes some vertebrae and permanently cuts damaged nerve endings. Because of prayer, surgery, and all of the training and therapy from The Little Lighthouse, Hayley was able to walk independently for the first time. What a miracle – and what we had been waiting for. (I know Hayley’s sister, Adalynn, was watching her from heaven when she took those first steps. How exciting it has been to be cooking in the kitchen and turn around and have Hayley standing right behind me. (That took a little getting used to) Every milestone is such a huge accomplishment. We still have a great deal of work to do. We have had some seizure activity of late and some of her muscle groups are fighting against her growth causing her to fall more frequently and have more pain, but Hayley is no quitter. She is ready to undergo whatever treatments she has to in order to keep moving forward. After all, she plans to be a ballerina and wear pink!!
We do not share this with you to make you feel badly for us but we do share this to help you understand the importance of a facility like the The Little Light House. The teachers, therapists and staff sacrifice so much to keep this school functioning with no federal funding and no tuition to its families as they understand the financial hardships many of us face due to our special needs children. It costs $17,000 a year per student to educate and treat these students. This is one of those times we can’t wait. Help us give back a little to this school and sponsor Hayley for Mini Laps this year. No amount is too small…or too great!!!
We love and appreciate all of you.
The Bollinger’s