OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – A six-year-old metro girl with cerebral palsy needs a walker to get around better. She was getting closer to one on Saturday, thanks to her young friend who was making a special birthday wish.
It might look like a typical seven-year-old’s birthday party inside the Holy Cross Catholic School. But it isn’t, and maybe because Zaylee Zahibi is anything but a typical seven-year-old. She was sharing the spotilght with her good friend Josie Childers.
“Sometimes she holds my hand after dance class and sometimes when I’m not looking she grabs over and holds my hand,” Zaylee said.
Josie and Zaylee met in a special needs dance class. Zaylee has a condition that keeps her using a wheelchair, walker or arm crutches. Josie has cerebral palsy.
But Josie’s mom, Brooksie Childers, said her daughter is outgrowing her chair. She said Josie needs a walker.
“It’s been really hard. She’s super heavy and she’s been heavy to carry so we’re hoping someday she’ll be able to walk with a walker,” Childers said.
The problem is Childers said it’ll cost $3,800 and insurance does not cover it.
But Zaylee has a birthday wish: raise money to get her friend that walker.
“I just wanted to do this because I wanted Josie to get up with me and walk,” Zaylee said.
Zaylee’s mom, Jennifer Zahibi, said they’ve raised $3,000 already through a blog called Zaylee’s Wish. She said she gives all the credit to her little girl.
“Someone asked me the other day, ‘How did you get her to do that?’ And I said, ‘I asked her.’ I said, ‘Do you want to do something different?’ We didn’t need all the presents and stuff like that,” she said.
“It’s actually overwhelming to be honest. It just reminds me again how much kids actually teach us more than we can teach them,” Josie’s mother said.
For more information on this effort, click here.
