Spotlight on Hope: Cam, PWS Warrior

submitted by Sammi Hatfield

Cam is our 10-year-old son adopted from China at 26 months. Cam’s story of survival is amazing, from being given up on by an orphanage unable to meet his needs to being fostered by an American couple working in China at 7 months old until we could bring him home 15 months later.

We began all the early interventions with Cam as soon as we got back in the U.S. Speech, OT, PT, specialists at Cincinnati Children’s who started him immediately on HGH…we’ve done it all. He began a program in KY called First Steps as soon as we got home until he turned 3, and he went immediately into public preschool with an IEP that guaranteed continued early intervention and therapies. These were key to Cam’s progress! At age 9, Cam was reevaluated and no longer qualified for an IEP in academic areas, only Speech. Huge celebration!

Cam has always remained in the general education classroom with his peers. He participates in all school clubs and activities that he is interested in. He’s currently preparing to perform in a musical in February, Moana Jr. We keep Cam active in all sports. He plays soccer, basketball, and baseball on regular teams with peers. He’s doing great in school, and he has the most beautiful handwriting you’ve ever seen!

Cam is not a perfect child, but he’s pretty perfect in our eyes! He is at the 50%ile in height, but his weight is greater than 99%ile for his age and height. We work with him daily on this, and since he was very little, we’ve trained him to read food labels for calories, carbs, and sugars and to make healthy choices, like we eat our calories, we don’t drink them.

Our family loves to travel. Our most recent trip was a Mediterranean cruise starting in Spain, traveling south to Tunisia Africa, around to Italy and France, and then back to Spain. We walked roughly 7-8 miles a day, and Cam kept up with the pace. We, including Cam, ate all the delicious food, but everything in moderation.

As we all know, PWS is very much a spectrum disorder, and Cam’s case is clearly milder than some. I’m writing this to give you HOPE. This disorder can be frightening, but we can’t allow PWS to control our lives…we have to control it. Our children deserve to live life full, but we must fill them with things other than food! As a teacher of 28 years, I believe in being firm, fair, and consistent, and not putting lids on kids. All kids crave structure and routine! It’s key to our kids’ success! Praying for a cure, but until then, we strive to live full!

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