A miracle all the way around
Published: March 6, 2007
It was a little over a year ago that my wife walked into my memorabilia-cluttered office and noticed the shadow-boxed autographed Brett Favre mini-helmet sitting in the same spot it had been since she won it at a Las Vegas auto dealers convention the year prior.
After reading a story I had written about Sarah McKay, the now-teenager who along with Austin Posey were the children featured on the first Chuck Long Sports Auction program in 1998, my wife knew just where it belonged. Sarah, a huge Favre fan, hugged the prize possession when we presented it to her at the ‘06 fundraiser for the Quad Cities Children’s Therapy Center.
It was then that W.K. Juncker, with the center’s resource development, mentioned that he wished lightning could strike twice, that there would be something that could be given to Austin in ‘07.
The Children’s Therapy Center and Austin must have a guardian angel.
On Saturday night at the Isle of Capri, the now-6th grader at Eugene Field Elementary in Rock Island, sporting a Chicago Bears sweatshirt, was presented with an autographed Brian Urlacher mini-helmet.
A similar item at the Chuck Long Sports Auction would have brought in a couple hundred dollars to the cause. However, the smile it brought to Austin’s face, as well as the emotional tears of joy it brought to Sarah’s, were truly priceless.
Austin has been a part of the Children’s Therapy Center family since he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the age of 1. Two years later, he was selected to join Chuck Long, Sarah and the Wendy’s girl to grace the first cover of the sport auction program. They have been a part of the program in each of the auction’s 10 years.
“Wow, has it really been 10 years?” said Corie Castaneda, Austin’s mother. “So much has happened since then.”
So much that it could be best classified as nothing short of a miracle.
“When he was 1, the doctors told us that he could never walk and could never talk,” Corie said of Austin. “And they said he probably would never be in regular educational classes.”
Austin started talking at the age of 5. Operating a motorized wheelchair, now he’ll “chat up a storm if given the chance,” his mother says. Asking Austin how he became a Bears fan, he flashed that big smile and started in on how his mom met his stepdad, Roberto Castaneda, who was from Chicago. Roberto’s a longtime Bears fan, and weekly Bears games in the fall give him and Austin “that bonding guy time,” as Corie calls it.
And then there’s that issue of education. Next year comes junior high.
“Junior high sounds a lot farther away. It sounds like a miracle away,” said Corie. “Just the possibility of going to a regular education junior high and then on to high school, it’s just amazing to me.
“I was terrified of preschool and I was terrified of kindergarten. But I’ve lived through it. We have his IEP (Individual Education Plan designed to meet the needs of students with disabilities) on Monday for junior high, so we’ll see how that goes.”
At Eugene Field, Austin is now writing stories for the “Young Authors” program, using his computer to type.
“It’s pretty amazing,” said Austin’s mom. “He’s come a long way.”
The Children’s Therapy Center and those attending the Chuck Long Auction each have been able to follow that progress.
“Picking Austin and Sarah for that first program was one of those random things,” said Juncker. “We basically asked the therapists, which families would be good and would it benefit the kids? Would they have fun with it.
“It was Chuck’s idea. He felt it was important to get somebody young, watch them grow and mature, and then look back.”
With Sarah now at the age where she’s a volunteer at the Children’s Therapy Center, the time soon may come when new Chuck Long Auction child representatives will be chose.
“We want Sarah and Austin to be part of the selecting committee,” said Juncker. “We’ll let them introduce (the new faces). That’s what we’re all about, taking young people and helping them along the way with their needs and to meet their greatest potential.”
As Austin secured that Brian Urlacher mini-helmet, Dan Burich, who was the event’s emcee for its first nine years, thought about all of the athletes whose autograph or photograph went to the highest bidders on Saturday. He considered Austin’s place among them.
“I respect his work ethic and determination as much as I do, say, a Lance Briggs (of the Bears), who was one of the athletes I saw that had a signed helmet (at the auction),” said Burich.
“Yeah, Austin is definitely a guy to admire.”
In fact, I’d be willing to bet that if the tables were turned and Urlacher knew of Posey’s story and was given something signed by Austin, Urlacher’s smile would be equally priceless.
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