MEET EZRA

Friends of Sunshine, 

As we approach the end of one of our most outstanding years, I want to take a moment to reflect on the incredible impact you’ve helped us achieve at Sunshine School & Development Center. Your support is a catalyst for change and vital in driving our mission forward with meaningful strides. For that, the Sunshine staff, students, families, and I personally thank you. 

Sunshine School faced many pivotal moments in 2024 – expanding our Summer Program, opening our infant care room, seeing off one of our largest graduating classes, and more. We are fortunate to support the lives of people touched by disability, and before the year ends, I want to share an inspiring story from our community, a young boy your past generosity has helped for almost a decade.  

Starting his Sunshine School journey when he was only three months old, Ezra Macomber is a sociable ten-year-old and an outdoor enthusiast who loves the color orange. He is the kind of child who remembers who you are after just one interaction with him, always wanting to make new friends. Eager for your attention, Ezra loves to show off what he's learned to do on his own. 

Despite the progress Ezra’s seen in the past ten years, when he was born, it was uncertain how exactly he was going to grow up. Like many families served by Sunshine School, Ezra’s family faced complications during his birth, resulting in challenges in breathing and eating that caused Ezra’s body to be very weak due to lack of nutrients. Ezra’s family was sent to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock for treatment. The scariest part for Ezra’s family was the unknown.

“It was a very scary time because nobody knew what he had, even the doctors,” Ezra’s mother Tiffany said. “We were given different possible diagnoses, one of them muscle dystrophy, but we were also being told as brand-new parents that our kid may not make it. It was so terrifying.”  

Ezra was eventually diagnosed with Prader-Willi syndrome, a 1-in-10,000 rare gene disorder where an X chromosome is missing data from the father’s side, known as paternal deletion. For Ezra, Prader-Willi syndrome has resulted in critically low muscle tone, affecting his entire body.   

“He was very low tone, very low endurance,” Ezra’s long time occupational therapist Kathy Farnan explained. “He couldn’t turn his head side to side on his belly. He was so weak that when on his back, he couldn’t bring his arms off the mat. His low oral motor skills made certain sounds difficult, hindering his speech. He was delayed in everything.” 

Finding doctors for such a rare condition was overwhelming and discouraging at first. Ezra’s parents were looking at constant travel for his varying treatments, and even considered moving to Little Rock. But on recommendation from a friend, they were finally referred to Sunshine School, where he began receiving physical, occupational, and speech therapies all under the same roof.

Sunshine School has always strived to offer as many therapeutic services as possible at the same place. By coming to us, our families do not have to travel to nearly as many facilities for their child to receive their essential treatments. Reducing travel time to different locations also helps endear children like Ezra - whose tolerance for change is low - to their therapists, making our therapies more  effective. In fact, Ezra has been with some of his therapists for a whole decade. 

“I first evaluated Ezra back when he was three months old,” his physical therapist Tiffany Sampson recalled. “He’s gone through the whole range of skills and therapies since then with steady progress. He likes to do a good job and he is a hard worker.” 

Though our services are primarily for children six weeks to six years old, we offer outpatient therapy to clients past their graduation age from our preschool, who then come in for regular therapy appointments. Practically, it permits children and therapists to continue their therapy sessions without an uncomfortable transition to another provider. Meaningfully, it’s our commitment to serving families as long as we can, building personal relationships within our community.

“Kathy is so dear and special to us,” Ezra’s mother said. “She is just so talented at what she does. She can find ways to get Ez to do the hard stuff without him knowing he's doing it. And Tiffany has had so much loving patience – instead of the negative, she shows us the positive strides our little boy is making.” 

Recently, our growing Summer Program has given Ezra the chance to be in an environment with other kids his age who navigate life with a disability like him. Families reliant on disability services face an annual gap between school years. Our Summer Program has been an attempt to fill that gap, adapting our early intervention and therapy services for elementary school-age children.

“He adored it,” his mother said. “I found out he became best friends with another kid there, Callie Ann. If Ezra had to do therapy, he wanted Callie Ann there. Having a friend that understood him and he can keep up with meant the world because we don’t just know a bunch of other kids with special needs for him to relate to. He would have never met her without the Summer Program.” 

While we have served Ezra’s unique journey over the years, he has now out-grown our equipment and rooms. Looking back ten years ago, it is clear the Macombers have come a long way from their time at AR Children’s Hospital. Back then, Ezra began his life full of struggles that left his family defeated. Now, Ezra is living up to his full potential with skills his family were unsure he would gain. 

“When we felt like we were thrown in the deep end, Sunshine School took our hand, pulled us out, and said you aren't going to do this alone. They have been here with us every step of the way and have made the lasting impact of giving Ezra the best chance at success in life.”

Children like Ezra have you to thank for their journey at Sunshine. Your support has gone towards maintaining our traditional therapies, while also expanding our services to better serve current and new families.  Looking ahead, the community need for our services continues to grow, and we are committed to meeting that demand. To sustain and expand our efforts, we are launching our end-of-year giving campaign with a goal of raising $75,000 by the end of 2024. Your contribution is vital in helping Sunshine School enable people  touched by disability, serving their unique journey through advocacy, therapy, and education. 

I invite you to join us in this important effort to reach our fundraising goal by making one last gift before the end of 2024. Together, we have made a real difference in the lives of those we serve this year, and together, we can continue to create lasting change and inspire hope for our community’s future. 

After serving thousands of children and adults over the years, countless success stories like Ezra’s are a testament to the transformative services our faithful friends and supporters like you help us deliver. Thank you for being integral to our journey and that of each person in NWA touched by disability. I look forward to expanding our services in 2025 and sharing more milestones with you in the years ahead. 

With warm regards,

Jarrod Reeves, CEO