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Club Takes A Stand For Special Boy

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By LIZ BLEAU, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 3, 2007

Updated: 10/01/2007 07:55 pm

RIVERVIEW - Almost as soon as Christina Toy joined the Riverview Moose Club, members were offering to help her son Trent, 9, who has cerebral palsy and does not walk or talk.

Toy, who joined the club several months ago, said that as a single mother caring for a disabled child, she needs all the help she can get.

In the short time since she joined the club, members raised more than $5,000 for a stander,' a piece of equipment that will allow Trent to stand upright.

The equipment was presented to Toy and Trent on Sept. 29 at a dinner at the Moose Club, 9000 Honeywell Road.

Celine Kelly, Trent's physical therapist at All Children's Specialty Care in Tampa, said the stander will help prevent contraction of Trent's muscles and help his circulation and respiration.

Kelly, who was working to loosen Trent's hamstrings during a recent therapy session, said she hopes the stander will help loosen his muscles. 'Plus, it's good for his social interaction, to be upright,' she said.

Although Trent does not speak, he communicates through facial expressions, his mother said, and has a broad smile that he flashes often.

'He loves any kind of touching and interaction,' his mother said.

Once she gets the new stander, Kelly will work with Toy to show her how to use the equipment at home.

Kelly and Toy were working together to try to obtain funding for the stander through the state or other sources.

'We started to try and get one, but we ran into walls everywhere we turned,' Toy said.

Trent's hair is long, which his mom gathers behind him in elastic for his therapy session.

'We are growing his hair to give to the Locks of Love Foundation, which provides wigs to cancer patients. He has such beautiful hair,' Toy said. 'That was something I felt we could do for someone else.'

Toy said she is humbled by the gift from the Moose Club.

'I know there are other people who are worse off,' she said, but she is grateful for the new equipment.

'The Moose Club, it's a family,' she said. 'They are like a big family; they love each other and fight like brothers and sisters sometimes, and they take everyone in under their wing. It's not just a place to drink.'

Mike McAllister, treasurer of the Riverview Moose Lodge, said helping Trent is part of what the club is all about.

'We love to help kids,' he said. 'A lot of people don't realize that the Moose are a family organization. We're here to have a good time, yes, but we are also here to help people.'

The 356-member club raised the money for Trent's stander through a dinner and motorcycle run in just three weeks.

Reporter Liz Bleau can be reached at (813) 865-1557 or lbleau@tampatrib.com.

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