A family came in with their kids and I immediately noticed the smallest one an amputee in a wheelchair. My co-worker was so lucky he got to start helping them as I was busy assisting another customer at the time.
I received some feedback yesterday so I was hesitant to offer to help my co-worker so the family could have one on one attention. The mom caught my attention and I helped bring her some pairs of shoes she selected. This allowed my co-worker to go on his lunch break. She then asked me if we had smaller sized shoes for her son. I tried to contain my excitement as I had him follow me in his wheel chair to a computer screen. We narrowed down the selection to three pairs and he selected the one of three he liked most. I ran to the warehouse and brought back the shoes for him to try on. I took the left shoe out of the box as he wheeled over to dad to help him put it on. He looked at his dad and said,"these are quite perfect!"
The young boy's dad asked me if they were too big. I asked if his prosthetic that wasn't with him was a knob or a foot. His dad said a foot and it was determined a good fit.
His mom shared with me he has cerebral palsy. He also has a twin brother fully ambulatory without cerebral palsy. His twin loved the new pair of shoes he got as well. My co-worker got to help him and when he got back from lunch we shared stories of this family and it sounded like he was as touched by them as I was.
I asked her son if he would use his artificial leg to wear the other shoe and he was hesitant. I think this kid has it right. He didn't focus on a missing limb he was so excited about one new shoe. I asked if he would race in his wheel chair and he told me how fast it was.
It's National Running Day today and I just did my best to run a full effort 1k.