Following her sister’s lead, Sarah Barnes had done some volunteer trips to mainland China. It was during one of these trips she discovered the strong need for capable families to adopt medically fragile children. Figuring she could provide a loving and stable home for a child in need, she began the process to adopt.
“I got matched with Naya and when I saw her picture, I just knew the moment I saw her we were meant to be together,” Sarah admitted to us.
In January of 2013, Sarah adopted 4-year-old Naya and they started their new life together in California. Naya was born with congenital heart disease and to date, she has required 7 open-heart surgeries to help prolong the health of her heart. Sarah has told us that eventually Naya, who’s now 13 years old, will require a heart transplant but neither of them worry much about that now.
In 2014, not long after one of Naya’s heart surgeries, unexpected complications occurred during recovery causing Naya to be without oxygen for close to 30 minutes. The lack of oxygen to her brain put Naya in grave condition and into a sudden fight for her life.
“It was a global severe impact and she was in a coma for about 2 weeks. When they went to wake her up they weren’t sure what the result would be,” Sarah told us. “When she did wake up it was very severe. There was no indication of being talked to, no eye contact or anything like that, so that was pretty devastating.”
Naya was hospitalized for the next 5 months and with the support of Sarah’s parents and sister, Naya began her long journey to recovery from brain injury. Incredibly, Naya started to show impressive signs of improvement and regained many skills that were thought to lost forever before being discharged. Doctors were shocked to see how quickly Naya bounced back, as they originally felt her brain injury was too severe to make any significant recovery.
“She and I had to relearn life,” Sarah recalls. “She was in kindergarten when she went in for the surgery and when she returned home she had to start kindergarten all over again but with a very new and different situation.”
Today, Sarah tells us that Naya is doing great and that her life has been filled with many positive experiences, as she surrounded by an incredibly loving and supportive family along with a great group of friends. Although she hasn’t been in school physically since early 2020 due to COVID-19, she’s a terrific student and excels in math.
While Naya’s cognitive skills are delayed, she’s making great strides at school and in therapy. However Naya’s physical impairments create unfortunate boundaries simply because she doesn’t have the right tools to access the world around her. Naya primarily uses a wheelchair to get around, but those types of chairs have many limitations as their main function is basic transport. Naya can’t go on hikes in the forrest, enjoy a day at the beach or go anywhere that has any type of rough or uneven terrain. That’s where we come in. ;)
As always, thanks to our incredible donors, we were able to gift Naya her very own all-terrain wheelchair made by Hippocampe. This versatile wheelchair will give Naya unrivaled access to outdoor activities previously off-limits to her.
“Being outdoors on hiking trails will promote mental health for Naya. We’re excited that this chair can be maneuvered by Naya as she continues to develop arm strength,” Sarah told us. “This chair will even allow her to swim in the ocean without being carried.”
We made sure to include a set of beach wheels, so Naya can effortlessly roll herself over the sand and right into the ocean, as this chair has no metal parts that can rust. And while the chair can be pushed by her mother, Naya has the freedom to move herself as she pleases, with the added bonus of strengthening her upper body including her arms, back and chest.
Below we included Naya’s adorable submission video where she tells us about herself and her love for National Parks. All of us at Holton’s Heroes are so excited to be part of Naya and Sarah’s journey to recovery and gift them the most important thing in life: Freedom. 💚🐘
Naya poses in her new all-terrain wheelchair with her mom Sarah, her Aunt and cousins.
“Thank you so much for making this happen. It’s going to add a lot to life. ”
Naya’s submission video to Holton’s Heroes.
Check out some of our other heroes from this year
“Tonight, we feel the power of humanity in a bath chair. Go figure. Some people feel excited about cars and other luxuries, but here I am just wanting my boy to be bathed safely,” Joshua mom wrote to us after her son received his gift from Holton’s Heroes.