BRANDY SPROUSE
A Princess Of Life
Brandy A Mirace Baby
By Jim Heffner
Brandy Sprouse is a three-year-
old, blonde, blue-eyed charmer,
who appears to be a normal,
healthy child. But the fact is,
Brandy was born with more than
her share of medical problems, the
most serious being the absence of a
kidney.
Dennis and Becky Sprouse of
Grover have six children. There's
Angela, the oldest at 17, Denny 13,
Joey 12, Shawn 10, Thomas B and
Brandy. They are a close-knit fam-
ily and all are protective of their
little sister.
"I call her my miracle baby"
said Becky. "I had taken all the
precautions including having my
tubes cut and tied to avoid another
pregnancy, but I believe God in-
tended this child to be born."
When Brandy was born, in the
hospital at Shelby, her doctors
knew right away there were prob-
lems. Dr. Lee Gilliatt took several
ultra-sound scans, then, later, she
was sent to Charlotte Memorial be-
cause of the possibility of an.en-
larged heart. That wasn't.the case.
When she was a little older, x-rays
were taken and the lack of a kidney
was discovered.
They thought she had a tumor
on her spine," said Becky, "but it
was just excess tissue. That was
removed surgically in March of
1988."
But Brandy has other problems
WV, aswell
Sandy Lescoski works for the
Developmental Evaluation Center
(DEC) in Shelby, DEC, an arm of
the State Department of
Environment, Health and Natural
Resources, works with families of
children with birth defects to help
them with the child's care and de-
velopment. She has been assigned
to the Sprouse family.
According to Lescoski, Brandy,
in addition to the single kidney, has
"congenital abnormality of the
spinal cord with sacral ageniois.”
That means, from birth, she has
partial absence of certain vertebrae
of the lower back. And, as if that
Thornburg
To Speak
At Legion
Monty Thornburg, Director of
Kings Mountain Aging Program,
will be guest speaker at Thursday's
meeting of Unit 155, American
Legion Auxiliary.
The Unit meets at 7 p.m. at the
American Legion building.
Helen Yates is program chair-
man and chairman of the hostess
committee. .
Unit President Hilda Goforth
will preside.
It's A Girl
For Whites
Robert Bruce and Wanda White
of Route 4 announce the arrival of
their daughter, Brittany LuRose
Sky White, Sept. 15, Cleveland
Memorial Hospital. The baby
weighed 9 pounds, 13 ounces. =
Grandparents are J. R. and Inez
Van Dyke of Kings Mountain and
Gleen and Melrose White of
Patterson Springs. Great-grandfa-
thers are Will Whetstine of Kings
Mountain and Garland White of
Shelby.
Brittany has an older brother
Chris, 9, and an older sister, Sha,
13.
wasn't enough, one leg is shorter
than the other.
Dennis, her father, shakes his
head and smiles. "You'd never
know she isn't healthy to look at
her. She seems like a normal, ram-
bunctious child. But, of course, we
know things can happen later on.
For one thing, just because she has
only one kidney, there's no support
for the gall bladder. That probably
means she'll need surgery in the fu-
ture."
At three, Brandy isn't concerned
about such things.
being a little girl.
The Cleveland County Kidney
Association runs a contest every
year called the Prince and Princess
of Life. It is a fund-raising effort
and the winners are the boy and,
girl who raises the most money.
Brandy has entered each year of
her young life. The first year she
finished third, last year she was
runner-up and she finished third
again this year. Each year she was
awarded a handsome trophy and
she's quick to show them to anyone
~who displays the slightest interest.
Brandy's medical problems are
expensive. Dennis says the first
two weeks of her life cost about
$20,000. She requires a lot of
medication. One prescription, for
example, costs $22.50 and lasts
about two weeks, and there are oth-
ers.
"They are very concerned about
making their on way," said Sandy
Lescoski. "Brandy does qualify for
She's too busy
children's special health services,
but they've never used it. They
have group insurance that has cov-
ered about 90% of the costs. This
family makes every effort to han-
dle its own bills."
Becky Sprouse is a type one di-
abetic. - This means she has taken
insulin injections all her life--that
adds to the expense. But she is an
energetic woman who is involved
in the community.
"They are quite an amazing
family," said Lescoski. "Mrs.
Sprouse goes out of her way to
raise money for the Kidney
Association and to help others and
Mr. Sprouse volunteers his time as
an ambulance driver for
Emergency Medical Services. He
is a very hard worker and she has a
lot to offer, a very intelligent wom-
an. I enjoy working with them.
They are a very loving, caring and
concerned family. They give to
each other and they give back to
their community. And they are
very reliable in what they have to
do to care for their daughter. They
both follow-up as they should.
lst a r= ol
i Rls a ar a
Thursday, October 19, 1989-THE KINGS MOUNTAIN HERALD-Page 3A
—
Rings
&
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ONYX, INITIAL & DIAMOND
Genuine Opal
Ref. $69
Onyx and Diamo
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Actually, they treat me as a pari af. No
their family."
Brandy Sprouse at age three has
overcome more than her share of
adversity, and there may be more
on the way. She could very well be
a "miracle child.” But, if love and
care contribute to the healing pro-
cess, as it surely must, she certain-
ly picked the right family to be
born into.
Kings Mountain Weather Report
(Compiled By Kenneth Kitzmiller)
OCTOBER 11-17
Total precipitation
Maximum one day
Year to date
Minimum temperature
Maximum temperature
Average temperature
LAST YEAR
30 0
.30 (17th) 0
49.96 30.89
47 (11th) 30 (12th, 13th)
84 (13th) 74 (17th)
69.4 58.9
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