News - Local News

POSTED: Monday, Apr. 06, 2009

Jake Finkbonner honored for fight against deadly disease, meets Obama

When his turn came, 9-year-old Jake Finkbonner did as his dad taught him. He looked President Barack Obama in the eye and firmly shook his hand during a special meeting at the White House that was arranged by the Children's Miracle Network.

The Ferndale-area boy was one of 53 "champions" greeted by the president March 24 during a whirlwind all-expenses paid trip to Florida and Washington, D.C., complete with a day at Walt Disney World and a tour of the White House.

The youngsters from each state were honored as "Champions Across America" for their brave and heartbreaking battles against serious injury and illness - including the flesh-eating disease that nearly killed Jake when it attacked his face and head three years ago.

"He was so humble about the whole thing. It was just so sweet," Elsa Finkbonner said of her son's reaction to meeting Obama.

"To see our son be the champion that he is and to get that honor of shaking the president's hand and being at the White House, it was a moving experience for (dad) Donny and I. We were so proud of him," Elsa, 38, said.

Their son thought it was cool to meet the president, who came across as warm and easy-going during a meet-and-greet outside the White House, under a chilly March sky.

Jake also had this to add about the president: "He said he's got cold hands," Elsa said, laughing.

The Finkbonners - including dad Donny and sisters Miranda, 7, and Malia, 3 - left their home near Neptune Beach for their trip on March 18. Jake was selected to represent Washington state during this year's Champions Across America campaign, which also aims to raise awareness of the medical care given to 17 million children each year by the network's 170 hospitals.

That network includes Seattle Children's, where Jake spent nine weeks after falling and bumping his mouth in the closing moments of a basketball game on Feb. 11, 2006.

Necrotizing fasciitis, or Strep A, invaded his body and bloodstream through that small cut, and the aggressive bacteria raced with frightening speed across his cheeks, eyelids, scalp and chest as doctors worked desperately to stop its spread.

To save him, each day they surgically removed his damaged flesh. And every day for two weeks, they put the boy, who was then in kindergarten, in a hyperbaric chamber at Virginia Mason Medical Center to deliver oxygen to his body to help quell the infection's progression.

Those surgeries were not his last. In January, he underwent his 27th surgery. Most have been done "so that his face can function the way a normal person's face can function," Elsa explained.

The most recent surgery included a procedure in which fat, what there is of it on the slim boy, was taken from his waist and injected into his cheeks to give him a "little squish to his face," Elsa said.

Jake always will bear the scars from that vicious battle. They are on his face and neck, across his scalp from ear to ear, and across his chest from shoulder to shoulder.

Other children on the Children's Miracle Network trip also bore the physical reminders of their fight with illness and injury. Among them was a 16-year-old boy from Wisconsin, Zach Reetz, who nearly died from septic shock, the result of a blood infection.

To save Zach, doctors also had to remove dead tissue from his body, which included amputating both his legs at the knees and his right hand at the wrist.

When Jake saw him and heard his story, he told Elsa: "Wow. Mom, can I go and get his autograph?"

They also had their picture taken together. "They will remember each other forever," Elsa said.

The Florida segment of the trip involved get-togethers with all the youngsters and family members, as well as events attended by Olympic gold-medal gymnast Mary Lou Retton; former NFL quarterback Steve Young; Miss America Katie Stam; country star Mark Wills; and former "The Dukes of Hazzard" TV star John Schneider.

Meeting other children and families was "humbling," Elsa said.

"You know that although their story is so different from yours, all the heartache and the worry and the crying and the praying that we experienced they experienced as well," she said. "It is that one common bond of heartache that we have together."

For both parents, the highlight of the trip was the medal ceremony, when Jake raised his arms in triumph after receiving his "Champions Across America" medal.

"It was hard to keep it together when he was doing that," said Donny, a 40-year-old worker at BP Cherry Point Refinery. "The trip as a whole was an incredible experience."

For Jake, highlights included meeting the other "champions" as well as riding the Everest Expedition roller coaster ride at Disney World.

"I felt like I could ride it five more times," he said one recent evening, shortly after taking a break from playing with sister Malia in their home.

What was his favorite part of the trip?

"Technically, everything was my most favorite," said the precocious boy, now a third-grader at Assumption Catholic School in Bellingham. "Going all that way to have so much fun, all for free. It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to go everywhere."

Jake said he also liked the visit the family took to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum during the Washington, D.C., leg of their journey. There, he recognized the Spirit of St. Louis, the famed airplane that Charles Lindbergh flew during his solo transatlantic flight in 1927 from New York to Paris.

In Washington, D.C., the family also walked through U.S. history - the Washington Monument; the Lincoln Memorial, including the spot near where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech; and through the White House, where they stared at the portraits of each U.S. president.

"It was so amazing to see all these things in real life," Elsa said.

And after their trip through the White House and meeting with Obama, the children were given permission by the president to play on his children's new swing set on the South Lawn.

These days, Jake is busy at Assumption Catholic School, where his favorite subjects are science, recess and math.

The boy his mom describes as outgoing and silly has just started baseball practice. He likes shortstop and second base. Sometimes, he even likes the idea of playing right field.

This year, he's going to try batting left-handed because the disease weakened his left eye, which makes it difficult to continue batting right-handed.

He talks happily about learning two more techniques so he can test for his yellow belt at Karate Quest in Ferndale and the new pals he's made there.

"I really enjoy it because I've already made 10 friends, or 12," Jake said.

Taking martial arts has stopped horrific nightmares that used to come to her son, Elsa said.

The lessons have given him a sense of control, a feeling that he's a warrior who can defeat whatever opponent comes his way. After the last surgery in January, one that was tougher than expected, Jake told his parents he was proud he had made it through so many surgeries, and he knew he could make it through more.

"It's hard to watch your child go through such sad and hurtful circumstances," Elsa said, "but by keeping that kind of an attitude in the back of your mind, it gives us strength for him, to be there for him."

Learn more about Jake Finkbonner and the Children's Miracle Network by going online to:

jakefinkbonner.com

childrensmiraclenetwork.org. Look for "Champions Across America" in the featured events section of the home page.