On His Own Two Feet
Local boy receives help from Shriners Hospital
By Diana Royal Staff Writer
 

Landon Moats shows off his new tennis shoes while mom, Jennifer Wilson, looks on.

A chance meeting at a fish fry produced a miracle for Jennifer Wilson and her 5-year-old son, Landon Moats.

She'd accepted the fact that her child would probably never be able to walk on his own, but during a gathering of family and friends, when she least expected a life-changing encounter, she met her hero - Waynesboro Shriner Jimmy Allen.

Now, sitting in the home of Jimmy and his wife, Peggy, Jennifer shushes Jimmy as he tries to wave away the credit she gives him.

"Landon has had such a big turn around since we met Jimmy," she says. "We owe our lives to the Shriners."

Landon, a premature baby weighing in at just 2 pounds, 4 ounces, was born with cerebral palsy on the right side of his body.

Jennifer recalls the difficulties of raising a child with the condition and how she and her husband, Jaime, worked hard not to treat him any differently from other children.

"But he'd get so frustrated," Jennifer says of Landon, who had to rely on his parents for everything and expressed himself through sign language. "He sat around and pouted."

That is until Jimmy told them about the Shriners Hospitals.

Within a month they were making the drive to Greenville, S.C., but the family had no idea what to expect or how quickly things were going to change.

Jimmy knew Landon would be a good candidate for the Shriners Hospital in Greenville. He'd seen similar cases over the years and gave Jennifer the newfound hope she needed.

"We went through doctor after doctor," she says. "Then we made a three-hour drive to Greenville, and the doctor told me exactly what was wrong right away."

That's the goal of the hospital, Jimmy is quick to point out. The doctors and nurses are dedicated to the children, and it's shown as the hospital has developed over the years.

What began as a 50-bed hospi- tal originally built for polio patients has expanded to a unit of 22 hospitals, including three burn centers, spanning from Honolulu to Canada. Some 450,000 Shriners, including those in the Waynesboro organization, work year round raising funds for the hospitals, which provide free medical care for children up to 18 years old with orthopaedic conditions.

And Landon was welcomed with open arms.

"We went from one room to another for x-rays and tests," Jennifer says, adding that the nurses brought in toys and cartoons for Landon. "They had playhouses, Gameboys, pool tables. There was something for everybody. It didn't feel like we were in a doctor's office or a hospital at all."

The months that have followed Landon's first trip to the Shriners Hospital have seen one success after another.

He hops around the Allens' kitchen, playing and begging his mother to take him fishing. Just months earlier, the bright blondheaded, blue-eyed ball of personality was barely talking and hampered by a cast on each leg.

Now, he's not scared of his "doc doc," and on his trips back to the hospital every six months, he goes in, takes his shoes off and waits.

In the coming year, Landon, whose pants are still a tiny 18- 24 months in size, will face surgery and more physical therapy.

"But it has been well worth it," his mother says, as Landon asks where his fishing pole is.

After driving back and forth to the hospital transporting patients for the last 10 years, Jimmy says the feeling is still satisfying. "It's just knowing you've helped make someone's life better," he says. "It makes you feel good."

The gratitude Jennifer and her family feel is tenfold.