Kristen Gayle Harshman-Smelser
2023 Sandra Sagear Wall of Courage Honoree
My name is Kristen Gayle Harshman-Smelser, born May 28, 1981 to Curtis and Gayle Harshman.
I decided to make my grand entrance at 28 weeks, weighing 2 lbs. 1 oz. During my 3 month stay in the NICU I developed a sepsis infection that settled in my right hip. Doctors took me into surgery to clean out the infection but it was too late, my hip was greatly damaged. It was touch and go whether or not I would survive. Once I was stable and healthy enough I had a second of many surgeries, this time to fuse my hip with what I had left. Doctors told my parents I might not ever walk, see, have children or have a good quality of life. Defying the odds has followed me through my life. I can SEE with the help of glasses, WALK with a limp, now using a stability crutch, married and have two beautiful CHILDREN.
Mom and Dad never limited me to what I could or couldn’t do. If I wanted to try something they were my biggest supporters.
My right leg was 5 in. shorter than my left so that made me have a limp and I wore a 3 in. lift on the outside of my shoe. Mom would take me all over to find a shoe that would work for my shoemaker to custom build my lift. It was very heavy. Maybe that’s how I got strong leg muscles. When I started school my parents advocated for me to make sure I had accommodations in place. IEP, Resource Room, OT and PT. I went to Begindergarten before starting Kindergarten, because I was still recovering from another hip surgery and had to be in a wheelchair.
I loved Elementary School. The kids were actually friendly to me but they were curious as to why I wore a higher shoe on my right than my left and why I limped. But growing up I had few friends. It was challenging because they looked at me differently. I couldn’t run fast like they could or keep up riding my bike. They decided to not be friends with me. I felt alone. I knew I was not different.
The Summer before 5th grade, age 11, my family and I decided that it would be a good decision for my future quality of life for me to have a very painful surgery that would lengthen my leg close to 3 in. This is called an Ilizarov limb lengthening. I was the first candidate for the attached computer box to turn my pins a millimeter a day instead of manually turning them. Dad cleaned my pins every night so I hopefully wouldn’t get infections but that was inevitable. My Grandma and Aunt would sew me special clothes because there wasn’t any that would fit over my metal leg cage. I was featured in the local newspaper about my surgery. I couldn’t go to school yet so was home schooled for a few months.
When I did go to 5th grade I rode a bus that accommodated my wheelchair. I remember sitting out in the snow with a blanket on me waiting for that bus to come. I was welcomed back to school with excitement from staff, students and parents. I had kids fight over who was going to push my wheelchair to lunch and specials. My teacher made a chart for the kids to see when it was their turn. I thought that was a great idea. Upon graduating 5th grade and going to Middle School it was intimidating for me because there were going to be new kids I thought would make fun of me because they didn’t know me. This was not the case. I made several more friends. Even accommodations were made for me so I could be on the Cheerleading Team. Middle School was great.
It wasn’t until High School that the students were bold enough to stare and make hurtful comments to me as I limped by. I tried to look back at them and smile. My accommodations for High School were an elevator key to use when I had classes on the 2nd floor, I was able to receive extra time, 5-10 min. to get to my locker and classes on time. As well most of my classes were in one school so I wouldn’t have to walk back and forth between schools. All of these accommodations were extremely helpful to me so I could focus on my studies.
I proudly walked across that stage to graduate in the year 2000 and everyone cheered me on to begin the next phase of my life.
“Operation helps girl grow”, Plymouth Observer, February 22, 1993
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