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March 11, 2008

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Tue Mar 11, 2008, 11:01 AM CDT

By Melissa Dunson

mdunson@joplinglobe.com

RIVERTON, Kan. — Abriana “Abe” Andrews has been surprising people since the day she was born.

She surprised her mother by arriving three months early. She surprised her doctors by surviving her first night despite infections ravaging her frail body. She surprised the nurses in the neonatal intensive-care unit at Freeman Hospital West in Joplin, Mo., by coming out of seizures after the blood vessels in her brain ruptured.

“I thought we were losing her,” said Crystal Adamson, Abe’s mother. “But she defied the odds.”

Doctors told Adamson that Abe had a 100 percent chance of cerebral palsy and mental retardation. They said she would never walk, talk or feed herself.

“The doctor was worried because I handled the news so well,” Adamson said. “I told the doctor that she would turn out however God wanted her to be, and that she was my daughter and I would still love her.”

Abe surprised them again. She learned to use a walker, then graduated to walking on her own. Last year, she danced in her first recital.

“I am a ballerina and a tap-dancer,” said Abe, now 7.

Abe’s father is Jeffe Andrews, and she has a brother, Jaxavier Andrews, 2; a half sister, Michelle Andrews, 18; and a half brother, Eli Andrews, 15. Abe lives with her mother, father and brother in Baxter Springs.

Today, she is in first grade at Riverton Elementary School.

“All of the kids are enamored with her. They all want to be her friend,” Adamson said. “Her classmates have been just great. Every day, one of the kids is waiting for her to help her hang up her backpack and coat when I drop her off in the morning.”

Abe has been named the 2008 Children’s Miracle Network Missouri Champion. She will travel to Orlando, Fla., on Wednesday for the CMN Celebration.

Abe is like any other youngster, excited about a trip to Walt Disney World. Her favorite ride is the flying Dumbo, and she said she is seriously considering having breakfast with Cinderella.

After that, Abe will visit Washington, D.C., to talk with legislators and raise awareness of Children’s Miracle Network’s work and her disorder. Her story and image will be used in CMN’s state and national campaigns.

Abe beat out five other candidates for the honor of representing Missouri’s CMN work. Abe also was chosen for the honor in 2004. Kathy Watson, Children’s Miracle Network coordinator in Joplin, said the group nominated Abe again because she has overcome so many obstacles.

“She really represents what our NICU (neonatal intensive-care unit) is about, because if it hadn’t been for the NICU, she wouldn’t have survived,” Watson said. “She’ll continue to have challenges in her life, but she meets them all head-on.”

CMN has provided lodging and gas money for her initial hospital stay and ongoing medical visits. The organization bought braces for her legs when her family couldn’t afford them. Most of the local CMN’s funds buy equipment for Freeman’s NICU.

“I know that (CMN) helped me when I was a baby, and they help other kids when they are sick too,” Abe said.

On March 1, Abe donated 10 inches of her hair for the second time to Locks of Love to be made into wigs for children undergoing chemotherapy. “It’s important to help other people,” she said.

Abe’s traumatic start in life means she is a head shorter than any of her classmates. She also has leg braces and falls sometimes, but doctors say she could live as long as anyone else. Abe’s more immediate goal is to jump rope as fast as her classmates.

“I always wonder, ‘How are you doing this?’ But everything that happens to (Abe), she bounces right back,” Adamson said. “Since she was born, I’ve told her the word can’t doesn’t exist in her vocabulary. She can do anything she wants if she tries hard enough. I have yet to find something she can’t do.”

Abe’s send-off

Abriana “Abe” Andrews is being sent off to the Children’s Miracle Network Celebration as Missouri’s representative at 11 a.m. today at Freeman Hospital West, 1102 W. 32nd St. in Joplin. The event will feature remarks by CMN representatives and a release of balloons filled with messages of hope written by Abe’s classmates.