Community Shows Big Heart in Helping Local Child's Medical Condition

Sarah and Mark Donnelly of were thrilled to adopt twins Eddie and Abigail last year.

What wasn’t so thrilling, though, is that Eddie was diagnosed with a medical condition called torticollis—a disease that can result in the development of a twisted neck and misshaped head.

Normally, this condition would be treated when the child is about four months old, but insurance complications during the adoption process made that impossible, Sarah Donnelly said. On a particularly frustrating trip to a University of Illinois at Chicago hospital, doctors told her Eddie did not even need treatment, she said.

Dissatisfied with the responses she was getting and unwilling to compromise, Sarah was finally referred to a compatible practitioner in Lombard.

The doctors speculated that a series of two consecutive headgear pieces would suffice in correcting the majority of Eddie’s symptoms, but they come with a hefty price—$2,500 each, to be exact—and the medical facility doesn’t accept Medicaid.

That’s when Sarah's employer and owner Dodi Wians stepped in.

“(Sarah) didn’t want to ask for help,” Wians said. “So I said, 'Let me just try.'”

Wians proceeded to send an email on Eddie and Abigail’s first birthday, Sept. 21, describing the plight of Eddie and his family to the entire Art 4 Soul mailing list.

Nobody expected the reaction they got.

The very same day, someone came into Art 4 Soul and anonymously donated $2,500 in cash, enough to fully cover one of the two required helmets.

And that’s just one donation. Many other community members have generously donated money and written notes in support of the Donnelly family. The required $5,000 took little time to gather.

“I was like, ‘You have to be kidding me.’ I felt like George Bailey at the last five minutes of It’s a Wonderful Life,” Sarah Donnelly said. “You hear stories and see movies but you’re like, ‘That would never happen.’”

Wians said she’s never seen such a response in the history of her business.

“(Sarah) was in disbelief and giddy at the same time,” Wians said. “Every time I tell this story I get goose bumps.”

As for Eddie, his mother said he has since obtained his first corrective helmet and things are proceeding smoothly. Her excitement and gratitude for the community has not reduced in the slightest bit since she received the good news last fall.

“I can’t believe that people in this economy could do such a grand thing. It is incredible—the generosity, support and well-wishes from complete strangers. I am eternally grateful,” Sarah Donnelly said. “Thank you (to the community) for literally changing my baby’s life.”