Defying the odds

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Dani Smith plays with items she received during a birthday party thrown in her honor at Minooka Community High School. (Herald File Photo)

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MINOOKA – In her three years of living with spina bifida, Dani Smith has already beaten the odds.
Her parents are certain she will continue to do so.

“The doctors said she’d be wheelchair bound by now, but she’s using a walker,” Cindy Smith, Dani’s mother, said Wednesday.

“They don’t ever expect her to walk unassisted,” she said. “They think she’ll transition into walking with crutches, but I don’t expect that. I’m going to get her to walk.”

Spina bifida results from the failure of the spinal cord to form properly and results in some form of paralysis, Smith said. Dani has the most severe form of spina bifida, called myelomeningocele. This means the spinal cord and nerves are exposed at birth, usually as a sack on the baby’s back.

A neurosurgeon re-forms the spinal cord into a tube and puts it back into the body. Affected babies have some degree of paralysis, among other problems that require more-extensive surgeries.

Dani has partial paralysis from the waist down and has already undergone five major surgeries.

Smith said there have been advances in procedures to help Dani walk on her own, but the medical treatment is not commonly done in the United States. Overseas the procedure is common, so Smith plans to take her daughter out of the country in hopes of bettering her chances of a normal life.

The procedure is not covered by insurance, so Smith and her family and friends are trying to raise $50,000 for the treatment, physical therapy and traveling expenses. A benefit is being held from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, at Skateland Recreation Center, 25334 W. Eames St., Channahon.

The night will feature “Six Wheels South,” a country and blues band, raffle and auction prizes, a 50/50 raffle, and a cash bar. Tickets are $25 and available at the door.

Some of the auction items include a football signed by Devin Hester, a Chicago Bears Walter Payton throwback jersey valued at $300, a White Sox Bo Jackson throwback jersey valued at $300, along with other sports memorabilia, massage packages and gift certificate to other area businesses.

“The community has just been phenomenal to us,” Smith said.

When people encounter Dani, they never forget her – not because of her disability, but because of her smiling face despite it. Dani is enrolled in the early childhood program at Minooka Junior High School and everyone knows her, her mom said.

“She’s always smiling,” Smith said. “She walks the hall to and from classrooms and it takes her awhile in the walker, but she has to talk to everyone along the way. She’s always talking to all the teachers, staff and students.”

If someone cannot attend the benefit, donations can also be mailed to Benefit for Danielle Smith, P.O. Box 906, Minooka, IL 60447. A bank account has been set up for the benefit at Citizens First National Bank in Minooka. Checks need to be made payable to Benefit for Danielle Smith.

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