Leroy was born a fighter and a champion, he entered this world only weighing 4lbs, 7oz and 2 ½ months early, and not expected to make it according to doctors. Leroy also could not suck and had week muscle tone because of a facial nerve injury before he was delivered; however, once again Leroy proved everyone wrong and with the help of great therapy and God, Leroy began to suck on his own at 4 months old and was able to be released in his 5th month of hospital stay. Leroy was diagnosed by the world as slow developed, small in stature and was placed on a growth hormone, and we later found out after 3 ½ years he also had hearing loss in both ears, which explained why his understanding was slow. In spite of all his challenges, he is a kid that never would give up trying to learn and fit in with children his age. We never put any limits on Leroy, and we celebrate every victory and accomplishment. He still goes through speech and physical therapy. Leroy has learned to deal with his challenges and move forward, he is currently in first grade after we let him repeat pre-k to help him catch up with his age group, and last year Leroy started writing on lines better than some kids his age. Leroy also takes piano lessons by color code and picture, he loves music and he sings in the choir, he may not get every word pronounced, but once again he sees no limit, and he can hum a tone exactly the way it played. Children’s Hospital played a major part in Leroy’s development and improvement and we wanted to be able to give back to them, so we helped him start a lemonade stand 3 years ago from the Raisin Canes entrepreneur program; but we wanted it to be a real long term business, so that Leroy could give one day on a big scale, and the world could never put limits on him because he would be his own boss. Leroy is starting to understand making money and giving some away, and he loves it, and he loves to say the name of his lemonade. Leroy does not see himself different from other children his age and neither do we as his parents. We want Leroy to always feed his faith, and belief in himself, and his doubts will starve to death. Hopefully one day Leroy will encourage and inspire children that challenges are small steps toward success. Every morning Leroy wakes up, and even throughout the day, he says “I am a champion, I am a leader” and the good thing about it, he believes it. When he won 1st place at the Lemonade Day Tasting Contest this year, he said “I am a champion” without a hint from us. And thanks to God placing great people in his life like Chef Chris and Sommer, he can’t do anything but succeed.
