Then one night at the orphanage, “she crawled out of her crib and to the top of a bookshelf,” said her mother, Mary Chellis. “And that moved her into the adoptable category.”
It’s the kind of fierce determination, of fearlessness, that characterizes 12-year-old Hanna to this day – and that has driven her to compete in an internationally recognized U.S. Paralympics swim meet every year in Cincinnati.
And it landed her a scholarship this summer to the Amputee Coalition’s annual Paddy Rossbach Youth Camp in Clarksville, Ohio. It’s a five-day traditional summer camp for children ages 10 to 17 who have lost an arm or a leg or, like Hanna, don’t have full use of a limb. Activities including rock wall, ziplining, ropes course, swimming, canoeing, fishing, and soccer.
Hanna came home to Sugarcreek Twp. with a new perspective. “There are people who have worse disabilities than me, and most of them are cheery,” she said.
Not that Hanna has had it easy by any stretch. Her original proved incorrect; she actually has underdeveloped lower leg bones, muscles and nerves. The treatments she received in China – a body cast and confinement to her bed – only caused further deterioration.
Chellis adopted Hanna from an orphanage from the famous Hunan province when she was 4. Her right leg was atrophied and significantly shorter than her left leg, and a specialist in Louisville recommended amputation. Chellis, an emergency room physician at Miami Valley who also specializes in wound care, found a better path with the help of Dayton Children’s orthopedic surgeon Michael Albert, who insisted that Hanna’s leg could be saved with limb-lengthening surgeries, physical therapy and leg exercises.
Hanna, a seventh-grader at Incarnation Catholic School in Centerville, still has limited mobility in her right leg, and can only walk short distances without her crutch. Yet she has held her own with her athletic older brothers, Andrew, a senior football player at Carroll High School, and Jacob, a sophomore at Ohio State University. She enthusiastically throws herself into snowboarding, skiing, tubing, rowing, golfing and basketball.
It was her brothers who fully embraced the idea of adopting Hanna when Chellis, a single mother, wavered about whether she could make that commitment. Recalled Chellis, “I put Hanna’s picture on the table and the boys, who were 6 and 8 at the time, said, ‘This is our sister! We need to go to China, and we’ve got to get our sister!’”
When caregivers presented Hanna to her new family, they said, “She’s a spicy one,” no doubt referring to her native Hunan Province. But it could apply equally to her fiery spirit.
Hanna said her brothers are supportive, but treat her as equals: “No way would I want to be babied!” she said. “My brothers have taught me that you need to stand on your own two feet, and to be able to fight for yourself.”
But for many of Hanna’s fellow campers, this is the first time they have felt comfortable playing sports, or even doing something as simple as wearing shorts for the first time because they’re no longer as self-conscious about a missing limb.
Jessie Cantrell, the Amputee Coalition’s peer support and youth camp coordinator, sees a transformation in the campers every year: “A lot of the youth might have ever met another amputee, much less someone their own age they can relate to,” she said. “Camp is a very special place where they feel like they’re themselves. When they get to camp they’re all just kids.”
This year the Paddy Rossbach Youth Camp, now in its 15th year, was attended by a record 110 campers from 33 states as well as Canada and Germany. The Amputee Coalition covers all expenses, including travel, for the campers, at an average cost of $1,800. Camp Joy in Clarksville, Ohio, was selected as the site for this national event because of its trained staff and adaptive facilities that can accommodate wheelchairs and a variety of disabilities.
It helps that all of the counselors are amputees themselves – many of them former campers who return to give back. “These counselors are thriving – they are teachers, doctors, photographers – and the kids can look up to them.”
And, in many cases, the adults look up to the kids as well.
Chellis can’t hold back the tears when she describes the way her daughter has inspired her:
“She is very tough. The girl never cries, she never complains, even after everything she has been through. Everyone who knows her walks away impressed by her. She has a very stern core.
“She has taught me that most of the limits we have are self-imposed. You can use that to make other parts of you stronger.”
For more information about the Amputee Coalition, visit www.amputee-coalition.org or call 888-267-5669.
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