Of the 50 posters the High Desert Advocate received for its annual Veterans’ Day contest one stood out.
Not so much for its artistic quality but that it was done at all because less than six months ago the artist Fawn Neaman was being ravaged by a perfect storm of disease, a ruptured appendix, influenza type B and spinal meningitis that almost killed her and left her paralysed from the shoulders down.
While anyone of the three could have easily killed her, Fawn survived with a warriors heart in her small body.
Today at first glance Fawn Neaman looks like a typical 10 year old girl albeit with remarkably good posture. Then one notices how still she sits despite her animated eyes and face and the occasional twitching of her thumbs.
“It really sucks being in a wheel chair and having other people do things for me.” She cheerfully said in a Wednesday interview with High Desert Advocate Publisher Howard Copelan. “ But the kids at school have been really nice to me everyone knows me now even the 6th grade girls.”
Fawn’s good spirits must be attributed to her parents Jackie and Spencer Neaman who are at once incredibly attentive to their daughter but also casual in their care.
“This is something you just have to get by,” Her father said stoically. “Yeah its hard but you just do it.”
In addition to Fawn the Neaman’s have four other children all living together in there small mobile home at the Old Jim’s Trailer Park.
“While she was first sick,” her mother Jackie said. “It was very hard to divide attention between Fawn and the rest of the children.”
The youngest an infant demanded at least as much care as the couples paralysed daughter. Yet while some families would break under the stress the Neamans persevered and in remarkable good humor.
They have seen the worst life can throw at them and they are still standing not such a small thing.
As for Fawn she goes to school everyday helped by an aid and by her teachers and classmates.
Still unable to effectively move her hands Fawn writes and draws with a special stylus she holds with her mouth.
“It is really remarkable how well she does,” said her art teacher Brook Ward. “And how she insists on doing everything the rest of the class does.”
While bike riding and running around are impossibilities right now, Fawn does what most ten year old girls do for entertainment, she watches youtube videos.
“I like the music videos the best,” she giggled. “But some of the funny ones are good too.”
Because of the uniqueness of her case doctors are unsure of her prognosis, her mother said.
“She is improving,” Jackie said. “She has more movement in her hands than when she did when we first brought her home. But they simply don’t know how much she will recover.”
While her physical recovery is uncertain one cannot help but know the Wendover little is secure in the love and support of her family and of the entire community.
“When I grow up I want to be famous,” she said with a twinkle in her eye. “That and help kids who are hungry.”
Fawn’s poster was one of 50 received by the High Desert Advocate for the newspaper’s annual Veteran’s Day Poster contest.
click links for all the posters:
Started four years ago to instill patriotism and gratitude toward veterans the number of submissions has grown by leaps and bounds every year.
“We really couldn’t to this without help from our sponsors,” said Advocate Publisher Corinne Copelan. “You often hear that children today, especially children of immigrants aren’t given enough patriotic lessons at school about how truly great this country is. As a naturalized citizen myself, I can tell you first hand this is a wonderful country not just for the opportunity it gives everyone but more importantly for its tolerance and freedom.
Americans who never lived abroad really have no idea how truly exceptional this country is because they have nothing to compare it to. Well I am a proud American by choice and thankful to the American Armed Forces.”
“It has always been the most expensive edition we do,” said Publisher Howard Copelan. “But as the son and grandson of US veterans it is the most rewarding.”
In addition to the this week’s print edition, all of the posters will also be published on the High Desert Advocate’s website www.coyote-tv.com.