SPOKANE, Wash. — A local family caring for a toddler with special needs now has a safe space for their courageous little girl to grow, thanks to Mark Peterson and the 4 News Now Extreme Team.
Rebekah Pawlowski first met her beloved foster daughter, “Miss M” (4 News Now is withholding the child’s name for safety reasons), while working as a nurse at Maddie’s Place, a care facility for infants dealing with substance withdrawal due to exposure in the womb.
“She stole my heart from the very beginning,” Pawlowski said.
Miss M was left at Maddie’s Place around three years ago as an infant. Just two months old and five pounds at the time, she needed a feeding tube and had a large hole in her heart.
“Her eyes were very vacant. She didn’t make eye contact. She was just kind of checked out,” Pawloski said.
Today, despite all odds, she is a smiling, happy toddler.
“Quite honestly, I think it’s a miracle the way that she has just exploded developmentally,” Pawloski said.
As part of the 4 News Now Extreme Team’s Maddie’s Place kitchen renovation, the Pawloswski’s also had a room in their home remodeled to meet Miss M’s needs.
“We all need a place to call home, and so she has that. Knowing she has that stability, that place where she can put down roots and she can have memories and she can make memories, it’s so critical to our development – everyone’s development as a human, but also hers, especially with the brain injuries and the challenges she’s facing,” Chris Pawloski said.
This past spring, Miss M was diagnosed with a brain injury and cerebral palsy. The new room built by the 4 News Now Extreme Team is especially designed to meet her needs. The room has a new door and wall that allows her parents to quietly walk in while she is sleeping to change her feeding tube, a special crib and a new closet to help organize all of her things.
“To most people, it probably seems like not that much, but for us, it means, feeling that support of the community wrapping around us and supporting us as we support her,” Rebekah said.
The Pawloskis hope to officially adopt Miss M and give her her forever home.
RELATED COVERAGE: Extreme Team begins work at Maddie’s Place
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