Eagle puts her best feet forward
By Tim Gallagher, Journal staff writer | Posted: Monday, February 25, 2008
Lawton-Bronson High School cheerleader Leah Rasmussen-Smith gives the Eagles mascot a kiss before a state tournament football game last fall. (Submitted photo)
LAWTON, Iowa -- After speaking with Leah Rasmussen-Smith on Friday afternoon, I e-mailed her mother seeking a comment.
Tears filled Mom's eyes as she searched for the right words.
Emotions run high at Lawton-Bronson High School, where Leah Rasmussen-Smith, 15, cheers today for her Eagles basketball team as it tackles Exira in the opening round of the Iowa Girls' State Basketball Tournament in Des Moines. Tipoff is 1 p.m.
Rasmussen-Smith, a freshman, will be on the baseline in her cheerleading outfit. She looks like the other three cheerleaders save for braces wrapped tightly around her lower legs and ankles.
She was born with club feet.
"My first surgery was when I was 6 months old," said the daughter of Nan Rasmussen-Owings and Jack Smith. "The surgery corrected my right foot, but it didn't correct my left and circulation was cut off in my left foot."
That condition was quickly corrected and doctors saved her left foot.
But problems persisted and Rasmussen-Smith's left foot never caught up to her right. She wears a women's size 8 shoe on her right foot, size 6 on her left.
She had another surgery nine years later to bring her toes closer together on her left foot. It allowed her to put on her left shoe.
"And then when I was 10 I had a really big surgery where they had to shorten the bones as the bone near the calf muscle in my left leg was growing faster than the bone on the front of the leg," she said. "It made it harder for me to walk."
Screws were inserted in her foot, and then taken out a few months later. She was wheelchair bound for a good chunk of third grade.
That year (2003) she was chosen by the Abu-Bekr Shrine Temple to be the queen for the Iowa Shrine Bowl. It culminated a decade of service Shriners offered to the little girl.
"The day Leah was born and we discovered she had club feet, we were told about the Shriners," Nan Rasmussen-Owings said. "We were approached by local Shriner Dick Pruehs who offered to sponsor her."
Shriners have helped Leah with her orthopedic care ever since.
"Because of them, she is able to walk," her mother said.
More surgery
Leah Rasmussen-Smith played basketball as a fourth-grader, but returned to surgery a year later.
"When I was in fifth grade, I can't really remember what that surgery was about," she said. "I think I had to get another plate put into my left leg. And I was in a wheelchair again for about a month."
Another surgery followed a year later as Rasmussen-Smith's bones had grown over the plate. Doctors were going to remove the plate, but decided to let it stay. It's still there.
"We tease her about setting off metal detectors," her mother said.
With dreams of a varsity basketball career a long shot at best, Rasmussen-Smith turned to cheerleading. She tried out last May and earned a spot on the basketball cheering squad. When the football team needed another voice, she jumped at the opportunity and helped root the Eagles to a runner-up finish in football last fall.
Does her condition slow her down?
"I do sprain my right ankle a lot," she said. "I sprained it recently coming down from a jump in cheerleading. It hurt a little, but I got through it."
Her feet can also give her headaches (or foot aches) during show choir competition where Rasmussen-Smith sings alto for the school's Momentum show choir unit. The team returned Sunday after finishing fourth in a meet at Southeast Polk High School in Altoona, Iowa.
Rasmussen-Smith arrived at the high school in Lawton and helped unload the bus. She then headed home at 7 p.m., caught some sleep and was to return to the school at dawn for the trek to Des Moines this morning.
"I almost cried after we beat Woodbury Central to go to state," she said of the Lawton-Bronson girls' team. "I'm so excited for the state tournament. I'm very confident our girls will do well. They're awesome."
It's a word one mother would use to describe her daughter.
As tears filled her eyes, Nan Owings-Rasmussen managed to e-mail a response.
"I am so extremely proud of her, and enjoy every minute of watching her have so much fun," she wrote. "She has an awesome attitude and brightens a room with her smile."
Thanks Mom. That should do.
Tears filled Mom's eyes as she searched for the right words.
Emotions run high at Lawton-Bronson High School, where Leah Rasmussen-Smith, 15, cheers today for her Eagles basketball team as it tackles Exira in the opening round of the Iowa Girls' State Basketball Tournament in Des Moines. Tipoff is 1 p.m.
Rasmussen-Smith, a freshman, will be on the baseline in her cheerleading outfit. She looks like the other three cheerleaders save for braces wrapped tightly around her lower legs and ankles.
She was born with club feet.
"My first surgery was when I was 6 months old," said the daughter of Nan Rasmussen-Owings and Jack Smith. "The surgery corrected my right foot, but it didn't correct my left and circulation was cut off in my left foot."
That condition was quickly corrected and doctors saved her left foot.
But problems persisted and Rasmussen-Smith's left foot never caught up to her right. She wears a women's size 8 shoe on her right foot, size 6 on her left.
She had another surgery nine years later to bring her toes closer together on her left foot. It allowed her to put on her left shoe.
"And then when I was 10 I had a really big surgery where they had to shorten the bones as the bone near the calf muscle in my left leg was growing faster than the bone on the front of the leg," she said. "It made it harder for me to walk."
Screws were inserted in her foot, and then taken out a few months later. She was wheelchair bound for a good chunk of third grade.
That year (2003) she was chosen by the Abu-Bekr Shrine Temple to be the queen for the Iowa Shrine Bowl. It culminated a decade of service Shriners offered to the little girl.
"The day Leah was born and we discovered she had club feet, we were told about the Shriners," Nan Rasmussen-Owings said. "We were approached by local Shriner Dick Pruehs who offered to sponsor her."
Shriners have helped Leah with her orthopedic care ever since.
"Because of them, she is able to walk," her mother said.
More surgery
Leah Rasmussen-Smith played basketball as a fourth-grader, but returned to surgery a year later.
"When I was in fifth grade, I can't really remember what that surgery was about," she said. "I think I had to get another plate put into my left leg. And I was in a wheelchair again for about a month."
Another surgery followed a year later as Rasmussen-Smith's bones had grown over the plate. Doctors were going to remove the plate, but decided to let it stay. It's still there.
"We tease her about setting off metal detectors," her mother said.
With dreams of a varsity basketball career a long shot at best, Rasmussen-Smith turned to cheerleading. She tried out last May and earned a spot on the basketball cheering squad. When the football team needed another voice, she jumped at the opportunity and helped root the Eagles to a runner-up finish in football last fall.
Does her condition slow her down?
"I do sprain my right ankle a lot," she said. "I sprained it recently coming down from a jump in cheerleading. It hurt a little, but I got through it."
Her feet can also give her headaches (or foot aches) during show choir competition where Rasmussen-Smith sings alto for the school's Momentum show choir unit. The team returned Sunday after finishing fourth in a meet at Southeast Polk High School in Altoona, Iowa.
Rasmussen-Smith arrived at the high school in Lawton and helped unload the bus. She then headed home at 7 p.m., caught some sleep and was to return to the school at dawn for the trek to Des Moines this morning.
"I almost cried after we beat Woodbury Central to go to state," she said of the Lawton-Bronson girls' team. "I'm so excited for the state tournament. I'm very confident our girls will do well. They're awesome."
It's a word one mother would use to describe her daughter.
As tears filled her eyes, Nan Owings-Rasmussen managed to e-mail a response.
"I am so extremely proud of her, and enjoy every minute of watching her have so much fun," she wrote. "She has an awesome attitude and brightens a room with her smile."
Thanks Mom. That should do.
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Shawn Stewart wrote on Feb 25, 2008 8:47 PM:
Mack and Jamie say "hi!" "
Shawn wrote on Feb 25, 2008 8:45 PM:
Mack and Jamie say hi! "
Great story, thanks. wrote on Feb 25, 2008 6:38 PM:
dgm wrote on Feb 25, 2008 7:51 AM:
"