Growing up there were several TV shows I really enjoyed watching -- M*A*S*H, Mork & Mindy, The Dukes of Hazzard, The Incredible Hulk, and Magnum, P.I., just to name a few. One other show that I always tried to watch (and if we were gone we would put a VHS tape in the VCR to record it; yes, I'm old) was the
A-Team. Recently at
Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital I got to quote Col. John "Hannibal" Smith. We had a brand
new junior golfer, Allie, join us and no matter how much any of us tried, she
decided she did not want to play golf. She did, however, stay close and
play air hockey instead.
After about 15 minutes of distractedly playing air hockey (I noticed her sneaking glances at the kids hitting golf balls) she tried to be sneaky and throw one of the Almost golf balls towards me. I caught it and rolled it back to her -- and Allie laughed. Then she threw it back, I rolled it back again, and she laughed again. This kept on for about 10 minutes before three of us told her if she wanted to keep doing that she had to hit some golf balls first. Allie quickly agreed.
We got her a spot on our indoor driving range, Warner's Corner, where we hit the first few together, and the smile never left her face. The first shot she hit on her own went right into the bullseye of her target net! After about 15 minutes straight of hitting golf balls she decided hitting was more fun than throwing. When it was time for her to go to therapy, she rolled her wheelchair over to me to say thank you, and asked if she could play golf again tomorrow! Arrangements were made to incorporate golf as part of her therapy for the rest of her stay.
Any guesses who the first junior golfer was to show up for golf the following Wednesday? Allie was ready to go 10 minutes early and could not wait to get started. This time she hit for an hour straight all on her own. During that hour she smiled, she laughed, she talked to the other kids, and she had fun. Allie did exactly what any child should do -- she played. In fact, Allie enjoyed playing golf so much that we wanted to make sure she could keep playing when she went home, so we gave her a U.S. Kids Golf yard club and three pink golf balls!This is what Ranken Jordan is all about, letting kids be kids and healing at the same time. I am so fortunate that I get to spend time with the kids every Wednesday and be a very small part of their "Care Beyond the Bedside" model. Every day at Ranken Jordan is special, but those days like the ones described here, when we show a child like Allie that she CAN do something are even more special. While I was walking out to my car after that first day when Allie started playing golf, I had a big smile and thought to myself, as Col. Smith said, "I love it when a plan comes
together."
