Transforming Moments

TCU Rollers

Winning Memories

Jayme’s sign for bowling is a simple yet poignant gesture. He brushes his right hand across his left, simulating the touching of hands that he now associates with his new favorite sport.

Jayme, who is blind and dealing with severe medical issues, learned to bowl last year as a member of the TCU Rollers, a bowling team of residents from the Children’s Hospital Transitional Care Unit. Like his three teammates, Jayme bowls by pushing the bowling ball down a silver metal ramp centered in front of his wheelchair. Hospital staff members are his coaches; they make sure he is in place for each turn, position the ramp, and guide his hands into place to release the ball.

Jayme knows he’s done well as he hears the pins fall, followed by the claps and cheers of those around him. He, like his teammates, looks forward to this outing each week. “Jayme tell us he’s thinking about bowling all the time,” says Pat Anderson, RN, CRRN, Nursing Team Leader and one of the many hands that Jayme relies on, not only for medical care, but also for sharing in his success and fun at the bowling alley.

Transitional Care Unit

The Transitional Care Unit (TCU) provides transitional care and specialized long-term care for medically fragile and technology dependent children. The unit cares for children with complex medical needs who often need special equipment like ventilators or tracheostomy tubes for breathing and feeding tubes for nutrition.

Transitional care places a focus on educating a child’s family so that the family is able to provide daily medical care in the home environment. The TCU also provides long-term care for children who have needs that are even more complex: “For these children, their current state of wellness is one that includes complex medical conditions that require continuous care,” explains Sharon Darby, RN, MSHA, Clinical Director of the TCU. “They are not ill in the sense that their condition is changing; their medical conditions are just so complex that the need for care exceeds what can be accomplished in their home.”

Children’s Hospital is one of two facilities in the state that provide this type of subacute care for children. The unit, which opened in June 1999, received approval from the State Department of Heath in spring 2002 to expand from 12 beds to 23.

During a stay in the TCU, every child is cared for by an individual care team that includes not only medical personnel – an attending pediatrician, physician specialists, registered nurses and respiratory therapists – but also team members who provide support in other important ways – like the Child Life/Therapeutic Recreation and Hospital Education staff who ensure that each child has a developmentally-appropriate childhood experience.

Community Integration

Life for long-term TCU patients typically involves attending school, either by bus to a local school or at an on-site classroom; daily activities in Child Life; and community outings to local malls, museums and events.

The TCU’s bowling team started as one of many community integration programs coordinated by the Hospital Education Department, which is part of the City of Richmond school district. Hospital Teacher Karol Green started the bowling program as a way of being sure her TCU students had an activity where they could be more than spectators. “The kids just love it,” she says. “They get so involved.”

The team’s participation is sponsored by Special Olympics Virginia, which is organized locally by Floyd E. Miller, II, Director of Urban Programs. For eight weeks leading up to the annual tournament, the group took a hospital van to AMF Hanover Lanes in Mechanicsville, Va. every Friday and bowled alongside groups from many Richmond Public Schools. The team’s lead coaches – Karol and Hospital Teachers Kathie Garner, M.Ed., and Mary Kay Meyer, M.Ed. – coordinated the weekly trips, which required that staff from nursing and respiratory therapy be on hand for assistance. Everyone got into the act of coaching – including Manny Clark, of the hospital’s facility staff, who drove the van each week and started pitching in when the coaches needed extra help.

The TCU Rollers

Seeing the improvement each child has shown as a result of this experience is nothing short of inspirational. “Individually to see them rise to the occasion is incredible,” says Sharon. “Every time I participate in an event with the kids, I see something new and different and amazing.”

For Jayme, 18, being at the bowling alley is mainly about having fun. He is energized by the noise of the crowd and the noise of the lanes, but always waits to take his turn until he knows that his favorite fan, Pat, is watching. “He’s not going to bowl unless she says something,” says Karol. “And he’ll tell you. He signs it out to us.”

Jayme’s signing ability has improved significantly. His coaches tell him how many pins he has knocked down and Jayme, in turn, tells them how many remain. He has also gained ball control. “Jayme used to never touch or hold anything,” says Karol. But now he can hold a 10 pound bowling ball in his lap until he gets to the front of the lane to release it.  “It’s expanded his horizons in a lot of ways,” she adds.

Tiffany, 19, is the team’s only girl. She has severe cerebral palsy which makes it difficult for her to hold herself upright. However, with practice, she’s learned to use her two hands to push the bowling ball. “She’s very good at it,” says Karol. “She needs to be supported on her back to bring her up a little. She gets both hands on it and just lets it go.”

Tiffany’s mom, Brenda, enjoys seeing her daughter bowl, and is excited to be there when she gets a strike or a spare. What is especially wonderful for Brenda is that the care provided by the TCU has helped Tiffany maintain her health to a point where she is able to get out and participate. “It’s really great for her to have a special activity she enjoys,” she says.

Steven, 17, always gives an emotional lift to the team. For him, bowling is a social event. Though he is unable to use sign language because of severe cerebral palsy, his eye contact and smiles show how much he enjoys being there and watching his teammates have a good time. “This is his extended family,” says Sharon.

With help from his coaches, Steven has gained enough mobility that he can put his hands on the ball. “He takes great pride in that, in being able to be part of the team,” says Karol.

Known affectionately by his coaches as “Z, ” Zarren, 9, is the team’s youngest member and fiercest competitor. “He’s there to win,” say Sharon.

Zarren has muscle problems so severe that breathing, swallowing and holding his eyelids up are difficult. But he showed he can hold his own when bowling. “Generally Zarren needs a supportive headrest, but during the whole bowling experience he rarely put his head back because he was excited,” explains Sharon.

“It was a supreme effort for him to sit up and participate despite his muscle weakness,” adds Kathie, who works with Zarren regularly. She also notes Zarren showed improved communication – more smiles, facial expressions and body movements – and improvements in swallowing, which allowed staff to spend less time helping with his ventilator, and more time helping with bowling.

Special Olympics

The eight weeks of practice culminated with an official tournament on Jan. 25, 2002. The event began with a salute to the flag; a student leading the Special Olympics Oath: Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt; and a rousing announcement of “Let the games begin.” It ended with a trophy presentation and “We Are The Champions” playing triumphantly in the background.

The TCU Rollers came in second in their division, but it was truly a day of firsts. They were the first team from a care facility to compete with the 362 athletes from special education programs at Richmond Public Schools. It was the TCU’s first-ever competitive team, paving the way for a legacy of similar opportunities. The team also had the first ventilator-dependent child to ever compete in a Richmond area Special Olympics sporting event. “I had a great deal of pride to be part of that team. Just to be in the presence of that kind of activity,” says Sharon, who praises Karol for making the bowling team a reality. “The sky’s the limit for her students,” she adds.

Perhaps, though, what is more important than being first is just being there, and experiencing all the memories a day like this can bring:

Sharon holding Zarren’s hand, dancing with him as he moved his shoulders in time to his favorite song, “Who Let the Dogs Out,” as it pumped through the bowling alley’s speakers. “It was a gift,” Sharon says. “It really set the tone for the day.”

Tiffany, who started the tournament with a spare, grinning proudly at her mom, holding her hand tightly as they watched for her name on the scoreboard screen.

Jayme, the team’s highest scorer with a 101, clapping and grinning as his coaches loudly celebrated one of his strikes with cheers, claps and high fives.

And Steven, surrounded by teammates and friends; his head tilted back in laughter as he took it all in. His extended family out for a day of fun.

Olympic moments, indeed.

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