[UMNS-ALL-NEWS] UMNS# 255-Ailing children navigate with Wheels of Love

[NewsDesk]

Ailing children navigate with Wheels of Love 

Jun. 18, 2008     

NOTE: Photographs and video are available at http://umns.umc.org. 

By John Gordon* 

CONROE, Texas (UMNS)-With just a few modifications, a simple red wagon
is transformed into "Lizzie's Limo," enabling 4-year-old leukemia
patient Elizabeth Long to navigate her hospital with the help of her
family. 

"She waves at everybody like she's in a parade," says mom Renee Moore.
"She feels like she's the princess. So it helps her."

Elizabeth received one of the first wagons produced by the Wheels of
Love ministry launched in 2007 at First United Methodist Church in
Conroe near Houston. The wagons are customized with IV poles, holders
for oxygen bottles, car seats and a trailer.

"It makes the treatment days a lot easier," says Moore. "I would be
pushing her in the stroller with one hand and I would be dragging the IV
pole with another hand and sometimes having to get both of them on an
elevator to go down to day surgery to do the bone marrow or the spinal
taps. And it was just very cumbersome trying to maneuver all that."

Retired millwright Richard Stanton started the Conroe church ministry to
help seriously ill children and their parents move more easily through
hospitals, their homes and their communities.  

"We found that some of the children can't move at all and they have to
be on their respirators or feeding tubes all the time," says Stanton.
"It allows the child to be with the rest of the family-take him for a
walk down the street, go to the park, go watch big brother play
softball."

Church member Phillip Keitel, a retired IRS auditor, helps to customize
the wagons. Each one takes about 20 hours. "I just can't turn away from
a child in need," says Keitel.

The wagons are given to families regardless of their income. Donations
cover the $350 cost of materials. 

Among the beneficiaries are children such as 3-year-old Anthony
Castrejon, who is being treated for heart problems and complications
including lung, liver and kidney disease and asthma.

"We need the help," says his mother, Elizabeth Castrejon. "God bless
them because this is a wonderful idea." 

Stanton spreads the word about the wagon availability through hospitals
and social workers. He believes the demand will be big because of the
large number of children's hospitals in the area. Eventually, he would
like to see the ministry help seriously ill children across the United
States.

"These kids, you look in their faces and there's absolute innocence.
These are God's angels on earth," says Stanton. "And I feel we have an
obligation to do the best we can do for them."

Keitel agrees. "There's the satisfaction I get when I see these children
and their parents receive one of these," he says. "I can see in their
eyes what this means to them."

For Elizabeth's family, the wagon serves as both a toy and a tool to
help the youngster during treatments expected to last more than two
years at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. The child was diagnosed
in August 2007.

"Life is already turned upside down as it is," says Moore. "Just the
fact that somebody cared enough to take the time-to use their
workmanship and their talents to make something that we can use and
benefit from and make our life a little bit easier-it just really means
a lot."

*Gordon is a freelance producer based in Marshall, Texas. 

News media contact: Fran Coode Walsh, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470
or newsdesk at umcom.org. 

******************** 

United Methodist News Service 
Photos and stories also available at: 
http://umns.umc.org 




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