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Young Wyatt gets in step
By: Susan Bush - January 31st, 2005
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| A first step launches most journeys, but for 6-year-old Wyatt Coniglio, a first-time overseas voyage could enhance his ability to walk.. |
STAMFORD, Vt. — A first step launches most journeys, but for 6-year-old Wyatt Coniglio, a first-time overseas voyage could enhance his ability to walk.
Parishioners of the Stamford Community Church and the St. John Bosco Church will host a Jan. 30 "Chili for Chile" buffet supper to help finance a trip to the Cuevas-MEDEK- Exercises International Center in Santiago, Chile, for Wyatt and his mother, Maura Hawkins. Homemade bowls of chili and soup accompanied by cornbread, tossed salad and apple pie will complete the menu. The event is scheduled for 3:30 at the Stamford Central School. The cost is a cash donation of choice, and those planning to attend are asked to call Hilda Koscielniak at 413-663-3883 before Sunday so meal organizers can plan attendance.
"Wyatt is such an amazing child," Koscielniak said during a recent interview. "We are all so mesmerized by him."
Trip costs are expected to total about $8,000, including $4,500 for about three weeks of intense physical therapy. Wyatt's family has saved about $2,000 for the anticipated February trip.
Meeting Wyatt often means being treated to a slightly coached but clearly enthusiastic greeting: "Hi! How are you?" From his perch on Hawkins' lap, he may scan a room for familiar faces and reward each presence with a magnetic little-boy grin and a burst of giggles.
The captivating persona is Wyatt's own, but the sitting position and the words he speaks are triumphs secured after years of hard work.
Diagnosed soon after his birth with cerebral palsy and a rare genetic condition known as Williams Syndrome, Wyatt has achieved milestone moments, such as holding his head up, and limited use of a walker, through a combination of rigorous therapies, said Hawkins and Wyatt's father, Tony Coniglio. Since Wyatt was 2 years old, mother and son have traveled yearly to Canada, where Wyatt participates in therapy provided by the Canadian MEDEK Center and a conductive education program offered at Ability Camp Inc. He perseveres toward three goals: walking, using bathroom facilities and feeding himself. A bevy of friends and neighbors assist the family with Wyatt's care, and Wyatt is a frequent source of inspiration, Hawkins said.
"People will often say to us 'God gives special children to special people.' But I believe God gives special children to ordinary people so that we can appreciate how special they are. They show us something we wouldn't otherwise see. Wyatt is amazing. He just tries — he tries so hard — no matter what. He just loves everybody. And he forgives you for everything bad."
Every improvement is significant, said Wyatt's father.
"We see the things that might not seem like much to other people. To ask him, 'do you want this' or 'do you want that' and have him say 'yes' or 'no' is a very big deal for us."
Additional therapies include visits with local physical therapist Kate Fassel and time in a hyperbaric chamber. Acupuncture is a part of Wyatt's routine as well.
The MEDEK therapy involves specific techniques and focuses on walking and other physical abilities, Hawkins and Coniglio said. The acronym's English translation is Dynamic Method for Kinetic Stimulation. The therapy was developed by Ramon Cuevas, a Chilean-licensed physical therapist with nearly 30 years’ experience in the profession. Cuevas earned his physical therapy degree at the University of Chile and lives in Chile. He visits the Canadian center several times yearly and invited Hawkins and Wyatt to attend the Chilean center for therapy provided directly by Cuevas, Hawkins said. Fassel has accompanied Hawkins and Wyatt to the Canada-based center several times and plans to travel to Chile with Hawkins at her own expense, Hawkins said.
"This trip offers a balloon of opportunity," she said.
Insurance providers offer coverage for items such as wheelchairs but does not pay for the therapies, said Coniglio, and until now, the family, including Wyatt's brothers Eli, 12, and Stewart, 18, have quietly found ways to cover the costs. Collections of non-returnable aluminum cans and aluminum-can pull-tabs are recycled at a North Adams, Mass., facility for 40- to 50-cents per pound. Donated returnable containers are carted to repositories in exchange for deposit refunds. Hawkins discovered a firm that pays up to $5 for used printer cartridges. The Instant Replay store in Pittsfield, Mass., sells used sporting equipment on a consignment basis, and Hawkins totes donated equipment to the store for subsequent sale. An account for Wyatt is established at the store, and interested individuals may bring equipment to the store and donate their share of sale proceeds to Wyatt. Meanwhile, Hawkins works from the family home in Stamford as an environmental consultant for Berkshire Environmental Consultants, and Coniglio is a sixth-grade teacher at the Williamstown Elementary School in Williamstown, Mass. Wyatt attends classes at the Deerfield Valley Elementary School in Wilmington.
Stewart and Eli adore their little brother, Hawkins said.
"My sons and their friends are great. They come around the house, toss Wyatt a ball, give him high-fives. They are better people for knowing Wyatt."
Wyatt enjoys a pony named "Jasper," thanks to Personal Ponies, a nationwide non-profit group that "loans" ponies to children. Boy-and-pony twice captured top honors during the town's Halloween parade, said Coniglio.
Church and community members provide enormous assistance to the family, Hawkins said, stressing that the community generosity extends to anyone in need of a helping hand.
"We have a wonderful church and a wonderful community," she said. "You can't out-give these people. You can't ever give back enough. We cannot do enough for what has been done for us."
Information about Personal Ponies: www.personalponies.org. Information about Ability Camp Inc.: www.abilitycamp.com Information about the Canadian MEDEK Center: www.medek.ca. Information about the Chile-based center: www.cuevasmedek.com. |
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