Savannah Greenawalt, 5-Year Old Super Hero
Have you ever experienced one day that your child asks you
that he or she wanted a super hero costume and you found yourself wandering?
You might have probably asked yourself, how in the world will I get a super
hero costume? The worst part is, you’re so
lame that you never knew even one super hero because you’re probably too busy
reading your book for a review perhaps during your childhood days ;-) You
better do something about that.
Meet sisters Savannah and Siennah Greenawalt! As normal as
it is, these two sisters have their own set of both princess and fairy
costumes. They had a brother though named Sebastian. When Sebastian had to
dress up as heroes like The Batman that became a problem ‘coz you see, they
only had costumes for princess and fairy, and the girls wanted to be super
heroes too. Their mom Amber, decided to take some action ;-)
Amber Greenawalt thought of the inspirational women she saw
on TV shows like "Major Crime," "The Closer" and
"Battlestar Galactica" and scoured local thrift stores to find items
from their trademark wardrobes, in pint-size for her daughters.
"I decided to start with some of my favorites," says
Greenawalt, a mother of three at 30. "I have a 'Battlestar Galactica'
necklace, a dog tag, from a costume birthday party and Savannah was wearing it
and that inspired me to start there."
Greenawalt was inspired not just by the dog tag necklace,
but by her 5-year-old daughter who was wearing it. Savannah was diagnosed just
after her first birthday with mitochondrial disease, a currently incurable
disease that, in Savannah's case, causes respiratory issues, GI issues and
requires her to undergo daily oxygen treatments.
According to Wiki, Mitochondrial disease is a group of
disorders caused by dysfunctional mitochondria, the organelles that generate
energy for the cell. Mitochondria are found in every cell of the human body
except red blood cells. Mitochondria convert the energy of food molecules into
the ATP that powers most cell functions.
Mitochondrial diseases are sometimes (about 15% of the time)
caused by the mitochondrial DNA that affect mitochondrial function.
Mitochondrial diseases take on unique characteristics both because of the way
the diseases are often inherited and because mitochondria are so critical to
cell function. The subclass of these diseases that have neuromuscular disease
symptoms are often called a mitochondrial myopathy.
"Savannah doesn't just dream about a cure for the
disease, she dreams of what she wants to be when she grows up," according
to Greenawalt. "Most don't survive past their teenage years and I want her
and all the other kids who have Mito to be able to grow up."
"I don't know if we'll get to see her in scrubs in the
OR as an adult or in a dress and heels or as a pilot," Greenawalt claims.
"I want her to be able to grow up and be an adult and wear these clothes
as an adult."
FYI, Amber battled skin cancer of her own. Her son Sebastian
undergoes a successful treatment for osteoclastoma, or popularly known as bone
tumors.
Greenawalt posted the photos to her blog and tweeted them to
some of the stars Savannah dressed as, after which they went viral.
According to Greenawalt, the inspirational photo shoot, was
especially inspired by Mary McDonell, the actress who plays Laura Roslin on
"Battlestar Galactica."
"My husband had me watch 'Battlestar' and in one of the
opening scenes Laura Roslin, the president, was diagnosed with cancer and I
immediately had a connection with it because that was my life," Greenawalt
said. "I went on to watch everything that Mary had made and found that
there was always a quiet strength there in her characters, and I see a lot of
the same things in Savannah."
Yes, the Greenawalts got it rough a lot of times, but do
they let it felt by each other? No! They held each other’s hand and try to live
just like the rest of us. They didn’t lost hope, and obviously, they didn’t lose
faith.
Easier said than done!
Cheerio ;-)
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