Wyatt Embraces His Thumbs

We like to say it was a delivery room surprise. So we did not know until he was born that he had 12 fingers. He had two thumbs on each hand and he kept his natural thumbs tucked in so it didn't show up anywhere until he arrived. And then the panic and the worry kind of set in. And so we went to a hand surgeon in our hometown. He said that he would need eight to 10 surgeries on each hand and wouldn't be able to write his name by kindergarten. And that was at two months old. So my dad is a Shriner and has been for over 50 years. And he's like, "You know, this is what they do. It might be worth another opinion."

When we walked into Shriners the very first time, it was like a sense of relief. We had an overwhelming feeling of this is where we need to be. And then when Dr. Goldfarb walked in and he's like, "This is easy." And he explained everything, said he didn't want to do the first surgery until after he turned one. So when he was one, a year and 10 days, Dr. Goldfarb and Dr. Wall simultaneously operated on each hand. And they did that so that he was only under anesthesia for 45 minutes. After two days, he was using his club cast as a cane and he would lean forward on it, prop himself up, and off he went. And I think that just shows the resilience of children as they go through some of these medical challenges.

We've had an opportunity over the years to meet kids like Wyatt, who have often had really profound upper extremity differences. And they've chosen to embrace those differences, to engage with the Shriners Hospital, to promote the care that they have received here in the Shriners hospitals in general. And we love to see them succeed and prosper in life. It's been very rewarding.

Shriners is helping me because I can actually write my hand in cursive and I could do that when I was in first grade and probably in kindergarten.

So he told us he was going to write a book. And we're like, "You're five." But then he told his kindergarten teacher he was going to write a book and it was going to be in the library by the end of kindergarten. And then my dad, the proud Papa and Shriner started telling his friends that my grandson's writing a book about Shriners, so people wanted it. And so then he decided that 20% of each book comes back to either the hospital or Plane of Mercy, our local transportation fund that helps families get to St. Louis.

[A book cover that reads 'Wyatt's Big Adventures With Shriners; By: Wyatt"]

[A page of a book that reads "God made me different and that is just awesome!; I love who I am and can't wait to blossom!!; The End; Wyatt]

I wrote my book because I wanted to prove that it's okay to be different and that little kids can do amazing, great things.

Wyatt is fantastic. He's incredibly engaging. He embraces his thumbs and he just has blossomed into this incredibly gregarious, confident child. And he's such a great person to represent the Shriners Hospital.

We live about six hours away. I think we counted it up the other day and he's had 15 appointments so far. And when it comes to getting your child the best care, there's no question. It is worth every mile to get the best care to set your child up for success. He continues to get annual checkups, but it'll be probably about 15 that they will do another round of surgeries. But from being told he wouldn't write his name in kindergarten, he started kindergarten fully able to function and then decided he wanted to write and illustrate a book in kindergarten to share his story and give back to the hospital.