A Walking Miracle: Zoey’s Growth from Infant to Kindergarten-Ready

Zoey was born with VACTERL syndrome, a complex condition that affected her spine, hip and kidney. Early in her life, she faced challenges most children, or adults, never experience. She spent months in spine casts and eventually underwent a daunting hip surgery that required her to be in a full-body cast for nine months. She needed specialized attention, accommodations and extra support just to do things other children were doing naturally like sitting, crawling and learning to walk.

As a working mother, Kelly knew she needed a child care center that would see Zoey for who she was, not simply focus on what she couldn’t do.

Through Help Me Grow, Kelly was connected with the YMCA Early Learning Center on Johnstown Road. A spot opened through the center’s disability enrollment process, and Zoey started there as an infant. And from the beginning, the YMCA team nurtured Zoey’s full potential, meeting her unique needs every single day.

Her teachers learned how to safely care for her casts and braces, adapted activities so she could participate with her classmates. Zoey spent significant periods in spine casts, including casts that extended down her body and legs. The baby-room teachers learned to care for her through those challenges rather than treating the equipment as a barrier to her participation. As Zoey grew up, they found creative ways for her to play and stay connected to her friends. When Zoey was in a full-body cast and couldn’t sit in a traditional chair, staff adapted a wagon so she could still join her classmates. When she couldn’t walk, they found ways to make sure she was still included. “The teachers always made sure that she was included no matter what,” Kelly said.

The early learning team didn’t see Zoey’s limitations as a reason to leave her on the sidelines. They found a way to bring her into the activities alongside other children of all abilities.

For Kelly, that was the difference between simply finding child care and having a team of youth development experts who understood her daughter, and care for her holistic development.

“They just went out of their comfort zone to learn things for her so that she was able to be taken care of in the best way,” Kelly said. “The teachers go above and beyond in caring for her.”

The ELC team adapted the environment so she could experience childhood alongside her peers. That commitment to inclusion gave Zoey opportunities to grow into the young learner she is today. She learned, played, built friendships and developed alongside her peers, even when her physical limitations could’ve made progress unobtainable.

Over five years at the YMCA’s Early Learning Center, Zoey became known throughout the entire program. She knew the teachers by name and grew into a bright, confident child who was excited to come to school each day, who Kelly calls her “little miracle.” On top of that, Zoey grew healthier too.

The little girl who once needed extensive medical equipment and extra support is now ready for kindergarten. She remains on an individualized education program, but Kelly credits the YMCA and its partnership with the Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities for helping Zoey reach milestones she once wasn’t sure would be possible. They adapted the environment so she could experience childhood alongside her peers.

“Because of this YMCA Early Learning Center, my daughter is a walking miracle,” Kelly said.

In May, Zoey graduated from the Johnstown Road Early Learning Center. Kelly said the moment was bittersweet. After five years, she was leaving the place that had been her second home and heading to kindergarten this fall.

Zoey wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye. When the teachers began practicing their graduation song, she cried and told her mom she didn’t want to go to kindergarten because she didn’t want to leave her friends and teachers. But when asked what she thought about the next chapter, Zoey didn’t skip a beat: “I feel ready for kindergarten.”

That’s the purpose of the YMCA’s Early Learning Centers; not simply providing child care for working families, but creating high-quality, safe environments where children of all abilities can discover their full potential.

Kelly shared that people who cared for Zoey will always be part of her family’s story. “This will always be like her second home,” she said. And for Zoey, the little girl who spent her earliest years overcoming challenges most people will never see, the next chapter of her education is just beginning.