Shriners molds
a special gift for
ailing Oahu girl
The hospital's orthotics facility
By Helen Altonn
fashions a brace so the
child can swim
Star-BulletinRita McInnis, 12, is anxiously awaiting a gift being hand-crafted for her at the Honolulu Shriners Hospital for Children.
"We're making a brace for her just to swim in," said Elton Bacon, manager of the hospital's new orthotics facility.
Rita lives with her father, Kenneth McInnis, two sisters and a brother, and grandparents Judy and Manney McInnis, near Waimea Bay.
She loves to swim but must wear a protective cast because of a leg tumor, said Judy McInnis.
She has neurofibromatosis, a condition causing changes in the nervous system, muscles, bone and skin, and tumors across the body. Her tumors are in her legs, brain and behind her eyes, her grandmother said.
Rita has been in and out of Shriners Hospital for a year, becoming best friends with Bacon.
"We have to be a little creative because Rita has so many problems that we have to deal with -- swelling, sensitivity and hypersensitive at times," he said.
"She absolutely cannot go without a brace and we need to keep her moving and functioning and give her quality of life as much as we can."Bacon joined Shriners last year to develop an orthotics facility to design, fabricate and fit orthopedic appliances such as leg braces for the hospital's young patients.
Official opening ceremonies were scheduled at 11 a.m. today but the 3,500-foot facility opened informally in mid-June.
"It's state-of-the-art ... the newest in the business and industry," Bacon said. "As far as materials and techniques, I think we're up there among the top guys in the business. I think we're going to do an outstanding job in years to come."
As far as the McInnis family is concerned, Bacon and his staff already are doing an outstanding job.
Rita, battling a brain tumor, was the first patient to benefit from the on-site facility.
Orthopedic appliances had to be ordered previously from outside vendors and adapted to meet patients' needs, said Shriners spokesman Duke Gonzales.
Now, Bacon and his technicians can build things specifically for patients right at the hospital, Gonzales said.
The orthotics facility has three fitting rooms, a parallel bar room, plaster/mold room, laboratory/ work area, machine and chemical rooms.
"Our vision is for this workshop to be the premier orthotics facility in the entire Pacific Basin," said John VerMaas, president and chairman of the trustees for the Shriners Hospital system.
Bacon has designed many different leg braces for Rita, trying to accommodate her growth and physical changes.
The youth's multiple problems have resulted in three eye surgeries, two types of brain surgery and radiation five days a week for six weeks for a brain tumor, her grandmother said.
She suffered a brain hemorrhage, causing an eyelid and her lip to droop, when a rubber ball hit her in the head at school in May, McInnis said. "Her eye was starting to close."
She was put on steroids and is just now able to keep her eyelid open, McInnis said. However, she said, the petite girl has gained considerable weight because of the steroids.
She said Rita's condition was discovered a few years ago after a soccer game. "They were kicking the ball around. One of the kids went to block it and kicked her. Her leg broke between the ankle and knee."
She had spots, like birth marks, associated with tumors on her body, McInnis said.
She said Rita, a seventh grader at Kahuku Junior High, enjoys school work and makes good grades but missed many classes the past year.
"She has an awful hard time," McInnis said. "The longest we've ever gotten away from a doctor is maybe not even a month."
Rita sees doctors at Shriners and Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children and also has a family doctor in Haleiwa, McInnis said. "They keep very close tabs on her.
"Rita just loves Elton and the other doctors."
She has the most contact with Bacon, who's constantly trying to make her tough life better, McInnis said.
He wants patients to be proud of their casts and makes them in different colors and designs, she said. "He's learning through Rita also."
He's innovating with a swimming brace -- putting holes in it so water can drain and she can go into the ocean -- her favorite activity besides art.
"It will let her get wet," Bacon said. "That way there is no down time in drying it for regular wear. And if one breaks, she can use the other one to have something."
Despite her granddaughter's serious medical problems, McInnis said her spirits are good."All the doctors say she absolutely amazes them. She never complains... The only thing she does, when she gets a headache, she asks for aspirin and takes a nap. She sleeps an awful lot. She's a very sweet child."
