Dollywood Foundation announces winner of 2002 Dolly Parton Scholarship

Don Keener departed on the familiar voyage before the sun came up Friday morning. Keener is a 32nd Degree Mason who has been involved in the Masonic bodies since 1964. An avid fisherman, he is retired, 68 years old, and spends half of every year living the good life in Florida. But the other half of his year is spent helping kids who rely on the 22 Shriner’s Hospitals across America to recover from illness or injury and have the opportunity to live the good life. Keener spends 80-90 hours during the weeks on paper sales collecting money to help keep the Hospitals operating. His other duty with the Shrine is more hands on. He transports local children to Shriners Hospitals in Lexington (specializing in orthopedics) or Cincinnati (specializing in care for burn victims). Keener is accompanied on this journey by Ronnie Clinton, a fellow Shriner since 1984 and a Spanish speaking family from Mexico who have recently moved to Lenoir City. Barbara Hope, a volunteer from Loudon County, is also making the trip to serve as an interpreter for the family of four who speak no English. The pretty little girl with dark brown eyes: “Chavi” is five years old and will start kindergarten this fall. She is the second of four children and like every five-year-old, is captivated by everything that is happening around her. She doesn’t speak a word of English but the language spoken by her assortment of glares is Universal. “Chavi’s” mother, 22-year old “Lupe’”, and two siblings are making the trip with the Shriners to Lexington to see if the orthopedic doctors can remove a birth defect on both of her hands before she starts school next fall. “Chavi” was born with an extra thumb on each hand and the doctors in Lexington are confident that they can remove the tendons and each extra thumb with surgery so that her hands can be totally functional. “Chavi moved with her mother and siblings to Lenoir City from a small village in Central Mexico a few weeks ago and had never been to a hospital before. She, like her other siblings, were born at home. Her birth defect had never been examined until Friday morning. The Shrine got word of “Chavi” through another family that they have assisted and offered to help. When the group stopped in Corbin, KY to eat breakfast before arriving in Lexington, it marked the first time that “Chavi” and her family had ever eaten in a restaurant, other than McDonalds. The mother and all the children drank black coffee and cleaned their plate’s after filling them up at the Shoney’s Breakfast Bar. “Chavi” seems to be as well adapted as could be expected and plays along with the other children but will face the almost certain possibility of ridicule when she starts school. With out this operation. Her mother wants to go through with the operation but her father, also 22, had to be convinced to let his daughter go to be examined by the orthopedic doctors. He, like a lot of people from his culture, believes that God intends for you to have what you are born with. The father has been in Lenoir City for several months now, working at a mushroom factory. “This is her first trip to the hospital,” said Hope, who volunteers her time and skills to help the Mexican population of Loudon County become adjusted to America by assisting in everything from taking someone to get their Driver’s License to delivering babies. “They probably don’t really understand what the Shrine is, just that that they are willing to help them without charging them any money.” Checking in on some local kids: After dropping the group off at the hospital in Lexington, Keener and Clinton put the van back on the Interstate and made the three-hour trip to the Shriners Burns Hospital in Cincinnati. Two local youths that were involved in burn accidents in the last month were airlifted from The University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville to the Shriners Burns Hospital in Cincinnati. Logan Norton, a fifth grader at Maynardville Elementary, received second and third degree burns to both of his legs while burning a brush fire last Wednesday, May 22nd. The brush fire was lit on one side when Logan stuffed newspaper under the other side causing it to “mushroom”. After first going to the hospital in Knoxville, he was airlifted to Cincinnati at 3:30AM the following morning where he will remain for at least another week. Logan’s mother, Sherry Norton, said that her son will have to get skin grafts on the third-degree burns but he might get to come home next week and have his legs dressed with bandages every day until they heal. They would drive back to Cincinnati every week for a check-up if he is released, but right now they are concerned with his legs swelling. Both of Logan’s grandparents drove up Thursday. The Shriners Hospital furnishes the family with a hotel-like room to stay in while the patient is in the hospital. “Shriners have been wonderful,” said a teary eyed Sherry Norton. “It’s a blessing. It’s hard to explain because it’s so heartfelt. I’m just so thankful that there are places like this.” Keener and Clinton then went to the information desk and asked where they could find the family of Carissa Summerfield. They were directed to the room of the six-year old Campbell County girl who suffered burns to 30% of her body on the 29th of April, and were greeted by the mother, Crystal Summerfield, as sounds of the young girl crying filled the hallway. Since this was the first time that Keener and Clinton had visited with the family, they tried to offer as much comfort as possible to the still grieving mother. They stated to Crystal Summerfield that if there is anything that she needs, just to call them at any time and they will do everything that they can do to help her. Still in some state of shock, Crystal Summerfield tried to explain to Keener and Clinton what had happened on the day of her daughter’s accident. “I’m still not sure how it happened,” Crystal Summerfield said. “I’ve asked her several times but she won’t say anything. When kids go through difficult times, sometimes they just clam up, we’re hoping that eventually she’ll tell us what happened.” “She was outside playing and she came up to me and her whole dress was on fire,” Crystal Summerfield recalled. “My niece and I were patting it and then I poured water on it. They said it was the wrong thing to do but my child was standing in front of me in flames. What would you do?” The family stayed in the hospital room with Carissa for the first three-weeks and have since moved to a room in the Family Care Unit. “I can’t say enough about how much the Shrine has helped my family,” said Crystal Summerfield. “This is the first experience we’ve had with the Shrine and they are just wonderful.” “They were suppose to put grafts on her last Friday but they didn’t take,” Crystal Summerfield explained to Keener and Clinton. “We had thought that we would be able to take her home next weekend but they scheduled another surgery. We’ll just pray that the grafts take this time.” Coming back home: After spending some time at the Cincinnati hospital, Keener and Clinton headed back south toward Lexington to pick up “Chavi” and her family. “Chavi” had finished getting her examination at about 10:30AM, much earlier than expected, and Hope told of the doctors’ plans of operating on just one hand at a time. The Doctor explained to “Chavi” that she would be asleep during the operation and not feel anything, but the little girl still didn’t like the idea of surgery and was afraid to take a nap while they waited on the van to pick them up. On the way back to Knoxville, Hope reflected on the time at the hospital. “The mother takes total care of them and they did great with the doctor.” “ We thought that we could get it done before school starts but since they are doing them at separate times, it might be into the autumn before they can get it done. Hope said explaining some of the obstacles that they will face before surgery can be done “ They will send her to Summer School and if she comes home crying, they will do something. It is probably just a matter of time before the pain of her being made fun of overcomes the other things.”