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Show Sarah Goes Home for Christmas, Hastened by New March of Dimes r? ' " W L J s & - : n 3 lr rrmu - niilnHn iniiiniiiitiui im iv'1 t !- - - .. "Can I go home for Christmas?" That is the plea of tens of thousands of hospitalized children at this time of year. Too often the doctor's answer must be a regretful, "no." But among the lucky ones who made it last Christmas was Sarah Rauchbauer, 7, of St Paul, Minn. After seven long months of racking, pains due to rheumatoid arthritis, Sarah posed the auestion to her doctors at le University of Minnesota Minne-sota Children's Rheumatism Clinic, which is supported by the March of Dimes. Tha doctor hetiUled to say yes because Sarah had bee a making such good progress in the hospital after being a very sick little girl, and in great pain, for many dreary days and nights. Finally, Dr. Homer Venters (above, right) carefully exam-ined exam-ined the child again, consulted with his colleagues, and decided de-cided to gamble. "W reasoned that fulfillment of our little patient's longing to be home for Christmas with her mother and father, her brothers and sisters and her dog Mitzy might do Sarah more good than the hospital. So wt sent her packing." The experiment was success-ful. success-ful. Now Sarah is home for her second Christmas since she fell ill. She returns to the clinic once every three months for a checkup. She still limps slightly slight-ly (vet not her cartfree jig, lower left, on arriving home lor good; and the joyous embrace em-brace the gave MiUy, upper left). In addition to The National Foundation - March of Dimes grant which made Sarah's treatment treat-ment possible, the voluntary health group has made other grants to its research study centers in arthritis and birth defects as part of a program financed by contributions of the American people to the March of Dimes each January. |
