A helping hand
Young Stewiacke girl beneficiary of War Amps support
Ask Jaelynn Creelman how many hands she has and she will say one – plus a helper arm for her “nubbie.”
Jaelynn, 4, was born without the lower portion of her left arm and what she refers to as her helper arm is a prosthetic limb.
“She wakes up, she puts it on,” says her mother Josephine. “It doesn’t bother her, it’s just a part of her daily life.”
Jaelynn and her parents recently attended the War Amps 2017 Atlantic Child Amputee seminar in Moncton, which brings together young amputees from across the Atlantic provinces. The theme was “It’s What Left That Counts” and Josephine said the annual event is a great teaching exercise and motivator for the children who attend.
“She gets to hang out and talk to older little boys and girls who are missing limbs,” Josephine said. “You can see when she comes home she tries to do what the older ones have shown her. It really means the world to us.”
According to Jaelynn, one of the things she learned at the last seminar was how to “wrap stuff.”
She has also been practising how to do a ponytail on her doll, Chole, which also has a prosthetic limb on its left arm.
But what Jaelynn learns at the seminars and, even her prosthetic arm itself, are only made possible thanks to the financial support of War Amps. The organization not only covers the travel and accommodation costs to attend the events, it also pays for Jaelynn’s artificial limbs.
Her current one, which she received last November after outgrowing her first limb, cost nearly $20,000. The first cost about $18,000, expenses that Josephine said are more than her family could afford, if War Amps was not involved. Besides Jaelynn, Josephine and her husband Kenny have two other children, Mackenzie, 8 and Tyson, 6.
“It’s truly amazing,” she said, of the support her family receives.
“It’s definitely been a major blessing for us.” Josephine Creelman of Stewiacke said the financial support received from War Amps for her daughter Jaelynn has been a blessing for her family. Jaelynn, 4, was born without the lower portion of her left arm and the two prosthetic arms she’s had thus far have cost nearly $40,000.