Last year was a tough year for eight-year-old Isaiah Grossnickle of the Cogan Station area. He was gravely ill and spent a period of time in a coma and is just now starting to get back on his feet. That tough year ended on a high note on December 8 when he won a bicycle at the “Skip Hunsinger Children’s Christmas Spectacular” held at the Community Arts Center and put on by the CAC volunteer corps.

Isaiah’s mother, Paula Grossnickle, tells how things began for her son.

“It started in August when he became sick. He wasn’t eating or drinking and really dehydrated. I took him to Williamsport Hospital not once but twice and they sent him home both times saying it was the flu even though he was puking all the way through their hallways and rooms but they still didn’t admit him, they didn’t even run any test on him when I requested it,” Paula told Webb Weekly. “Isaiah was even begging for IVs and said, “please help me, I want your help to make me better”, and they still didn’t even want to do anything (I did everything I could for him, I felt bad). The next morning he was barely responding, so my uncle George Lowmiller stopped in to check on Isaiah, Isaiah was barely responding when we tried to wake him up so then we rushed him back out to his pediatrician Dr. Mahmood and Dr. Theresa Moff on the other side of the Williamsport Hospital and as soon as we got there they sent him right downstairs to the emergency room, they called Life Flight in and meanwhile they were hooking him up to tubes and IVs, he also had a stroke on top of all that. Once he got to Geisinger Danville, he was in a coma for three or four days and come to find out he had two big size bladder masses. He couldn’t walk or talk when he came out of the coma. I taught him how to re-walk and talk again. My uncle, George not only saved Isaiah but also saved me three years ago when I was in a coma myself when I became really sick. Isaiah still has a long road ahead of him, but he’s doing better little by little.”

She said that Isaiah was able to overcome all he has been through with a lot of support from doctors and family.

“It meant so much to him to win the bicycle knowing what he has been through,” Paula said. “I was thrilled that he won the bike. We go to the Spectacular every year, and this is the first year that he won. I was so happy and proud.”

She said the bike aids greatly in Isaiah’s rehabilitation. It will help strengthen his legs and get him needed exercise.

“We love the Christmas Spectacular. We go every year. I just think it’s so great to have something like this every year for the children,” Paula said.

No doubt my Uncle Skip and the others who came up with the idea for the Spectacular and those who continue to keep it going would be pleased to have it produce such a good impact for a youngster like Isaiah.