Three-year-old Finley Smallwood is in need of a surgery to get her “new dancing legs” and a local fundraiser to pay for the surgery just hit one of its goals.
Employees at America’s Christian Credit Union take part in a Dance Off for Finley
Finley is the granddaughter of former radio talk show host Frank Pastore.
She suffers from Cerebral Palsy caused by side effects of premature birth and a surgery known has selective dorsal rhizotomy could enable her to walk. The surgery cost, since it is elective, is estimated to be a staggering $49,000.
Travel and hotel expenses are expected to be an additional $11,000, putting their overall goal at $60,000.
America’s Christian Credit Union in Glendora heard about the Finley’s story through another customer and immediately started a collection for her Dare To Dance campaign. Click on the link to read more about this amazing little girl and donate.
As it turns out, Wednesday morning while surrounded by youth Dancers from Glendora’s Dance Street West and over 40 employees from ACCU, a $1,534 check put Finley’s family over its seemingly unreachable $50,000 goal to pay for the surgery.
An ACCU employee along with Finley and her mother Christina Smallwood join GCN’s Zak Bushey and the SGV Examiner’s Jayam Rutnam shortly after reaching the $60,000 goal.
Finley’s mother, Christina Smallwood couldn’t be more thrilled with the support that her fundraiser started.
“We’ve been dancing around our house since we got the call that she was approved as a candidate for this surgery. It’s restored the excitement in our home, I believe this is God’s handy work. It brings us joy to have hope for the future with this procedure. We are grateful”, Smallwood said.
The dance theme started when Finley was two-years-old and watching some YouTube videos. She somehow ended up on a YouTube video of Ellen DeGeneres dancing and told her mother that she wanted to do that.
Below is the video of Finley showing off her dancing skills.
Christina is hoping to start “The Finley Foundation” along with one of Finley’s therapy clinics. They will use any donations that surpass the goal to sponsor special needs children and provide them with much needed services in their community.
Finley’s grandfather Frank Pastore was a former major league baseball with the Cincinnati Reds and later went on to host the “Frank Pastore Show” on KKLA 99.5, one of the largest Christian talk shows in the United States. The show ran from 2004 until his untimely death in a motorcycle accident in 2012 on the 210 freeway in Duarte.
Pastore’s wife Gina, Finley’s grandmother, now hosts her own talk show, “Real Life” on KKLA 99.5, Saturday nights at 7:30
