Local Girl With Rare Condition Receives A Gift From Great Plains College

A 12-year old Swift Current girl battling a rare condition called Microtia and her brother both received a special birthday present from the Great Plains College welding students.

Amisha Hockridge and her brother Krishin both received metal art. Amisha's art featured the quote "If you dance with your heart, your body will follow", while Krishin's piece was the Pontiac Firebird logo, a symbol for his favourite car.

Amisha's parents Mike and Veena Hockridge explained how the situation came about.

"One of the dancers Amisha knows was doing a raffle for a fundraiser and one of the things she had for the raffle was a metal display sign that had an inspirational quote that Amisha fell in love with", Mike said.

"Amisha had donated to the raffle with her own money, using the baby sitting money she had made to buy tickets and when she didn't win, she was pretty disappointed but I had Jared (McKenzie, Great Plains College Welding Instructor) as a contact so I contacted him to see if we could get one made for her birthday and that is when Jared got back to me, telling me what they wanted to do. It was phenomenal and we are just blessed," Veena added.

Amisha has received reconstructive ear, spinal and multiple other surgeries and is still having several medical issues with her kidneys and bowels and will need other surgeries in her future. These ongoing issues require Amisha to travel to Alberta once a week for treatments which the family has been doing for the last 15 months.

Veena says despite all of the obstacles her daughter and family must face, Amisha still focuses on life's positives.

"I have to say, she is my strength. The thing she said to me on her 10th birthday that I will never forget was, "we'll climb these mountains together mom, but I'll never let you fall off". She is a very happy go lucky girl, she puts one-hundred percent effort into everything she does. She loves to dance, she's been doing it since she was two and a half and we are very blessed to have her teacher work with her so well. There are days however, where it is very overwhelming for her, with the amount of pain she goes through and she misses a lot of school and activities as well," she said.

Microtia is a condition that affects one in every 10,000 children. Amisha is one of every 8,000 children born with more serious complications.

The family is accepting donations to help cover the cost of Amisha’s future surgeries and treatments. To visit the family's Microtia support website for her story and medical trust fund information, go to www.microtiasupport.com and select her story.