Then and Now, A Look Back at Ian

News | Sunday, February 19, 2012

It’s amazing what a laugh can do. In the 2007 Any Baby Can agency video, “Tears of Hope”, Ian Williams played with toys, devoured a bowl of ice cream, and at the prompting of his mother, Darenda, threw his head back with a belly laugh that made viewers gasp with joy. Ian was born with diastrophic dysplasia, a form of dwarfism, and at the time of the taping, he was two years old and enrolled in the agency’s Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) Program. In ECI, Ian received physical and occupational therapies, plus case management services. Throughout the years, his laugh has captured the heart of viewers, and they often ask, “How is Ian now?”

Today, Ian (pictured right on a recent trip to New York) is a thriving eight year old. He loves fire trucks, is a veracious reader (one of his favorite books is “Call of the Wild”) and is a proud Cub Scout. Since his time at Any Baby Can, he has had a number of surgeries, including spinal operations and a reconstructive surgery for his feet. His development has progressed substantially, including the enormous milestone of beginning to walk in July of 2010. “When he took that first step, I was in tears,” says Darenda.

In looking back at Any Baby Can’s impact on Ian’s progress, Darenda says that the benefit of working with ECI staff extended beyond their therapeutic expertise. “They knew him as a person and knew us as parents, so we were able to work together as a team to help him.” That teamwork certainly paid off. Looking to the future, Ian isn’t defined by diastrophic dysplasia, but rather for his bright personality and charisma. As Darenda says, “He’s just a typical little boy.”

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