Winnie is an 11-year-old living with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) who loves musicals, drawing, and playing sports with her brothers. After her recent surgery, she wrote a book to help other kids get through theirs.
If you've ever helped a child get ready for surgery, you know the questions that come with it. How long will it hurt? When can I go back to school? Will it be scary? Winnie knows those questions firsthand, and she decided to do something about them.
We recently got to talk with Winnie about Winnie's Big Day, and we came away inspired. She's a sixth grader from Morgantown, West Virginia, and she's thoughtful well beyond her years about what kids need to hear before a hospital stay.
"I just wanted to be able to help other people through my surgery as well, or any surgery, really," she told us.
What struck us most was how practical her advice is. When we asked what she wishes someone had told her beforehand, she named two things. She wished she'd known how long recovery would take, since she was out of school for six to eight weeks. And she wished someone had warned her about the medicine, because "it all tasted really gross!" These are the details grown-ups tend to skip over, and they're exactly what a kid wants to know.
Even more impressive, Winnie wrote the book while she was still recovering and still very tired. What kept her going was simple: "Just knowing that I'll be able to help people once it's finished."
If your child has a surgery coming up, Winnie has a message for them: "It may seem really, really scary, but it's really for the best, and it's going to help you feel really good after you've recovered."
That's the heart of her book. She hopes kids who read it will feel "that it's not as scary as it might seem," and know they have "someone to help them."
And for Winnie, that's what makes it all worthwhile. "I'm really glad that I'll be able to help some other kids who are going through surgeries also."
Thank you, Winnie. We're so proud to share your story.
Winnie's Big Day is available on Amazon, and a portion of the proceeds benefits Cure SMA and Nationwide Children's Hospital.
