JOSHUA'S ON HIS FEET

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 25, 1992                   TAG: 9201250120
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By JOE TENNIS CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium
JOSHUA'S ON HIS FEET
Lisa Bowman cried when her 7-year-old son, Joshua, walked into Price's Fork Elementary School for the first time in his life this month.
She was both happy and sad.
Yes, it was tough letting Joshua go. She had stayed with the boy around the clock for two years while he suffered from a rare ailment called Legg-Calves-Perthes bone disease.
Still, she was overwhelmed with joy: Just seeing Joshua walk again was a miracle.
"I didn't cry in front of him," Bowman said. "I waited 'til he left."
Doctors cannot believe the boy's rapid and miraculous recovery from a disease that caused his right hip to deteriorate and confined him to a wheelchair for two years, Bowman said.
Joshua, a raspy-voiced race car fan, collected more than 500 get-well cards following hip surgery in August at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
Following the 3 1/2-hour operation, Joshua wore a thick, itchy, green and yellow body cast, covering him from chest to knees until December.
After it was removed, Joshua walked again in three days - a month before doctors' earliest expectations, his mother said.
"It's just incredible," said Joshua's former homebound teacher, Liz Eckland. "He's doing fantastic."
As a kindergartner last year, Joshua roamed the halls at Price's Fork in a wheelchair. Teachers and children got to know him well. But his illness forced him to leave just a few weeks before the end of the school year.
"All the kids are glad to have him back," said Joshua's teacher, Jean Shorter. "He's just real glad to be back in school. . . . He's been a real delight."
School Principal Carole Kivligham called him "one of the happiest children I've ever seen."
To prevent possible psychological problems, Joshua's teacher makes sure not to shower him with too much attention.
"We're being very lenient in allowing him to adjust. . . . There's no trouble whatsoever," she said.
During the school day, Susan Pennington, a teacher's aide, helps Josh with speech therapy. Four years ago, strep infections and scarlet fever damaged the boy's hearing, causing problems with speech development.
These days, though, his speech is getting right on line, Pennington said.
When it comes to playing outside, however, Joshua has to take the bench: Doctors say he is not allowed to run. Still, he does what he can to be independent, his mother said.
For example, he says good-bye to mom at the front door on his way to the school bus each morning.
"He doesn't want me waiting outside, now," his mother said. "It's like, `I can do it, Mom.' "
Not catering to Joshua's every need every hour has left Bowman, 30, hungry to get out and thank everyone for helping her son during his illness. Call it a case of contagious compassion.
Bowman, whose husband, Daniel, is a machine operator, has applied at Montgomery County's Voluntary Action Center. She wants to set up an emotional support group for New River Valley families in need. She also plans to go to college to get a teaching certificate to work with children with special needs.
"I want to [help others] really bad," she said. "I just know how they feel: It's that feeling of they don't know where to turn to."

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB