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Clinic Gets Boy Teaching Dummy

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By JOYCE McKENZIE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 20, 2008

UNVERSITY AREA - Daisy has a new friend.

Thanks to 5-year-old Allison "Allie" Blain of Temple Terrace, All Children's Specialty Care Clinic on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard recently welcomed a new teaching dummy named Donald. He now shares center stage at the facility with Daisy, a fellow instructional puppet and bosom buddy with Allie and many of its other young patients.

Both puppets are equipped with lifelike veins meant to be poked, pretend ports that transport medicines to internal body parts, make-believe catheters that collect their bodily fluids and removable hairpieces intended to mimic a common side effect of chemotherapy.

Allie - the daughter of Renee and Wally Blain and younger sister of 8-year-old Abbie Blain - was diagnosed two years ago with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, an immune disorder in which her spleen attacks her body's platelets, the blood-clotting agents that help protect her from the life-threatening risk of internal hemorrhaging. It affects about four in 100,000 children.

It was Allie's suggestion that Daisy, her constant companion while undergoing treatments that often include having her blood drawn and receiving medications intravenously, have a boy pal.

To that end, her parents - with the help of friends, their church and the community - set out to raise money to purchase a Donald puppet, priced at $1,600, for the clinic.

The result was a Family Fun Day in April at the First Baptist Church of Temple Terrace that netted $9,000. The goal had been $2,000.

Some of the surplus contributions went toward purchasing 100 mini puppets that can be given to other children being treated at the center as take-home buddies, Renee Blain said.

The Daisy and Donald puppets "are of enormous use for children coping with life-threatening issues," said Kelly Sauczyn, a pediatric hematology and oncology physician at the children's specialty clinic. "We thank Allie. She's just a remarkable little girl."

The additional donations also were earmarked for First Baptist Church of Temple Terrace and Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., a facility that treats other children who have Allie's disorder. The remainder has been allocated to the Clouds of Hope Foundation, an organization established by the Blain family to assist other families whose children are faced with similar disorders.

"This has been an incredible experience for our family," Renee Blain said. "It's been fun to see how our community and friends have rallied around us."

It is her mission to raise even more money toward building a playground for children of all abilities in Temple Terrace. She plans to meet with city officials today about the issue.

"This is a good way to teach ours and other kids that when bad things happen, you can turn it around and make good."

Reporter Joyce McKenzie can be reached at (813) 865-4849 or jmckenzie@tampatrib.com.

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