NEW ORLEANS — It's a milestone parents look forward to, the day your toddler takes her first steps, but crime took that joy away from a local musician's family.
So, dozens of volunteers came together to surprise the family with an innovative way to give their toddler the freedom to move around.
It's no way to start life the victim at a crime scene before you even take your first breath, while still in a place that's supposed to be safe, your mother's womb.
That's what happened two years ago, before little Blossom was born. Her parents, New Orleans' beloved trumpet player Kermit Ruffins, and his fiancée, Harmonese Pleasant, were expecting the birth of their daughter. Pleasant was nine months pregnant when a stray bullet hit her in the abdomen in front of her home in Tremé. That bullet hit Blossom's spinal cord. So, right now, she can't walk.
“Yeah, it's hard, especially, I mean, the ordeal we went through. We are giving, loving people, and for something to happen like this, just hard to even believe it,” said Blossom’s father, musician Kermit Ruffins.
“Basically we won't know anything until she gets older, until she's able to talk, and say what she feels, what hurts, or what doesn't hurt,” explained Blossom’s mother, Harmonese Pleasant.
But today that act of senselessness by one unknown person has brought dozens of people together in an extreme act of kindness.
It all started for Blossom when this aired on the national CBS news.
“This is a story about a small chair, but it's got a big impact, the kind of chair that gives mobility to children with disabilities,” CBS News correspondent David Begnaud said in his story.
After that national story ran, $35,000 in donations came into the program to build the little chairs. One was $20,000 from an anonymous donor.
That's because the chairs are being made by volunteers who are Tulane biomedical engineering students, and then donated free to children with disabilities.
Two people were watching that story. One was Kermit Ruffins' aunt, and the other was Blossom's physical therapist. They each suggested that Blossom get one. So, the Tulane graduate and undergraduate students got to work in their maker space.
For Jeannette, it's a labor of love as she thinks about her niece with disabilities.
“It is inspiring. It's like it's one those videos you look and you just cry, and you are happy that you’re part of the team, which actually made that happen, like putting smiles on people,” said Jeannette Nyiramana, a Tulane biomedical engineering student working on her Ph.D.
For Alyssa, it's the inspiration of her engineer mother, and her love of volunteering with special children.
You're engineering, but you're engineering for a human being. These are people that are going to touch these devices, and have a huge impact on their life, and I think this project is an example of the great impact you can have,” said Tulane senior, Alyssa Bockman, who is also in biomedical engineering.
And for Dylan, it's customizing a simple design to bring mobility to children who can't afford an expensive wheelchair.
“When I saw the first videos of the children receiving them, it brought me to tears, because it was so inspiring to see how much they're going through already, and seeing them be able to gain that independence, is just really, really moving,” Dylan Lucia, a Tulane biomedical engineering student working on his Ph.D.
The collaboration with the Tulane students started with architect Noam Platt, founder of the non-profit MakeGood. On the side of his career designing health care facilities, he wanted to fill holes in the system, by giving children access to mobility, and enjoyment in life.
“I decided to do it because it needed to be done, and people were just kind of tired, waiting for the commercial market to solve these issues, or institutions, and it really is more on a peer-to-peer level,” explained Noam Platt, founder of MakeGood, INC.
The project has gone global. Designs and dimensions are gathered, and then shared back on the internet. One man on the other side of the world, in Pakistan, even heard about it, and used the simple design to make chairs for children in his community. Philip Dunham was injured in a mountain biking accident, and advises MakeGood on design.
“I think it's a bit different when you get somebody's feedback from somebody that uses, uses things day to day,” said Philip Dunham, a designer with MakeGood who is in a wheelchair because of his injury.
With the little chair now ready for Blossom, and decorated with fabric with trumpets on it, a custom nameplate, along with signatures of the students on the bottom of the chair, and a framed keepsake, it was time for her to try it out.
But all of the excitement, and strange faces were overwhelming for a two-year-old. Blossom was more interested in staying in her mother's arms, and watching the bubbles her therapist was blowing. Mom and Dad, are deeply grateful to the students, but understandably, it's hard to come to the reality, at least for now, that their little girl needs a chair.
“Like I say, the question of how can God let this happen, of course, that's our biggest question. I mean, (I was) just in the shower crying, you know just it's a lot,” said Ruffins.
“It means a lot, just because of the whole ordeal, the situation that happened. Just to know people are thinking about, you know, kids with disabilities,” said Pleasant about the gift of the little rolling chair.
Like every dad, Kermit wants his daughter to fit in, be happy in school with other children, and do normal teenage things one day. She is their blessing, and they know when she is in the comfort of her home, the chair will give her a new freedom, as it has for three dozen other children so far.
According to New Orleans Police, the investigation into who fired the shot that hit Blossom and her mom is still active, and ongoing.
They say there are no updates, or suspects at this time.
The open-source design for the chairs (and other assistive technology) is from Tom Global, an Israeli nonprofit that aims to fulfill the neglected needs of people with disabilities and limitations. TOM stands for Tikkun Olam, Hebrew for “repairing the world.”
Noam can be reached at MakeGood.
Anyone interested in Tulane’s School of Science and Engineering, click here.
Donations may be made directly to MakeGood or to the Tulane David A Rice Design Endower Fund, which is specific to developing assistive technology.