Mariam's Miracle: At 6 Years Old, She Maintains Joy Amid Adversity

"I'm getting a badge!  I'm getting a badge!" 

Mariam Salem, 6, couldn't have been happier had she won a lifetime supply of Dora the Explorer dolls. Her pleasure was palpable Monday afternoon at offices of the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District. There, she had been greeted by La Mesa Dale Elementary School Principal Diane Avery, former teachers and district staff.

The surprise held. Brought to the Date Avenue building, she had no idea what was in store.

The badge represents her dream job—playground attendant.  

But her real badge of honor is her attitude amid adversity. Father Helmi Salem and mother Dina Alsennawi have seen Mariam survive a series of surgeries—10 in all—and complications from cerebral palsy. She needs a wheelchair to get around and a feeding tube to eat.

Mariam, born with palsy at Sharp Grossmont Hospital, last had surgery in October, dealing with her hips.

"She has weakness all over her body," said her dad, a Palestinian immigrant from Jerusalem who came to La Mesa 21 years ago. (Her mom is from Jordan.)

Amid her suffering, Mariam exudes strength. Principal Avery says Mariam "loves to take charge" at recess while being wheeled around the playground. She recognizes when children aren't following the rules—and tells adults so.

When Mariam began talking about being a playground supervisor herself, the plot was hatched.

Why not make her one?

So about 1:30 Monday afternoon, Miriam was wheeled through the double glass doors of the imposing district headquarters, where important grown-ups waited with anticipation.

Greeted like royalty, she was taken back into offices where human resources assistant Alison Junker took her picture, produced an image on a computer monitor and printed out a badge for Mariam to wear around her neck.

The badge entitles her to hand out "caught being good" cards at recess and lunch—rewarding children for "safe, responsible and respectful" behavior, Avery said. Every week, children with cards qualify for a raffle to win prizes at La Mesa Dale. "I'm going to get one," Mariam noted with pride.

Mariam also got an attendant's whistle, which she didn't blow indoors. But her delight was at highest volume as she posed for pictures, greeted schools Superintendent Brian Marshall and was reunited with current and former special education teachers and aides including Jaime Hagis, Juliet Valoria and Molly Stachelski.

Hagis, Mariam's current teacher as resource specialist, said the event "really did make my day."  She works with the first-grader "on reading, writing, math, typing skills and some hand strengthening. But the focus is academics."

Claudia Bender, assistant superintendent for human resources, handled the logistics of the event.

Near the end of the visit, Mariam was asked: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Mariam replied: "I want to be somebody who knows stuff—like my mom."

Dina Alsennawi, 31, is studying child and family development at San Diego State University. But Mariam's father, 47, later said his daughter is a voracious fan of hospital shows on TV.

"She wants to be a big doctor," he said.

Minutes later, she was wheeled back outside, ready to be reunited with her brother, Mahmoud.

And then the latest crisis struck.

Not long after the ceremony, Mariam suffered a reaction to her most recent surgery—a painful infection in her left hip. She was rushed to Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego, where her parents feared a long hospitalization similar to previous bouts, including pneumonia with a temperature so high her doctors considered it a record.

But by 7 p.m. Monday they were home. Mariam's blood had been tested, and "she's just doing fine," her father said. She needed only an antibiotic.

"We watch her very close," Helmi Salem said by phone. "I will take her to school tomorrow."

There she'll get her first chance to blow her whistle and hand out cards.

"She's very smart," her father said. "She was happy today. She's the most happy kid you ever could see."