Stories

Building A Home

Amy Jo Domonkos said that "opportunity knocked" when she came to Columbia two years ago. After experiencing two years in the military and seeking medical services for her adoptive son, Nathan, 10, she was looking for a home for her family and found one in Stonegate Mobile Home Community in Columbia. Now, her family is laying down roots in a country home that Amy is building from the ground up. She and her mother, Ramona, are stripping an old trailer home to use for their new house.

Domonkos said raising a 10-year-old with Treacher Collins syndrome and Autism brings new things for the family to learn every day. Nathan has expressed fear of moving, but Amy says they are making the transition and letting him slowly get used to it. Nathan’s mixed emotions are part of what make him unique, and Amy and Ramona have learned how to navigate them over time.

"Over the last couple years, I’ve learned a lot more,” Amy said. "Sometimes I forget he’s just not like every kid."

The family’s move to the country is in part for Nathan, as it will give him more space, and for Amy, who just wants to give him the experiences she had growing up in the Pennsylvanian countryside. This includes raising animals, including four Irish Wolfhounds. One of them, Brody, is Amy's service dog who has helped her with each transition and has motivated her to help others find service dogs someday.

Despite moving homes and other transitions for the Domonkos, Amy says that family is ultimately what makes a home. After coming back from the war and fighting for custody of her kids, nothing was more important than having everyone home. “It’s not the material things that you have, it’s not all the stuff you can get. It’s the family being there."

Skylar's Prom Night

On April 11, 2018, Skylar Russell, 15, told her grandparents that she had a persistent stomach pain. The Osage Beach teen was driven to Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Columbia so Skylar could see a specialist. She was diagnosed with Crohn's disease about a year earlier, a chronic disease that causes inflammation in the digestive tract. It was cutting off circulation to her small intestine. She almost lost her life.

In the months after, she underwent another one life saving operation and five follow-up procedures. Skylar had missed her high school prom, but it wasn't one of her priorities when she first came to the hospital — she had bigger things to worry about. After being there for a few weeks, hardly able to leave her bed, she started thinking about it.

Sarah Camp, a nurse technician at the children's hospital, was braiding Skylar's hair after a shower when Skylar made a joke about Camp doing her hair for prom. A few days later, Skylar and child life specialist Corinne Joplin came up with the idea to actually have an '80s-themed prom in the hospital.

The night was filled with '80s costumes, with side ponytails, fanny packs and off-the-shoulder tops, not to mention Skylar’s nurses, who had all made sacrifices to be there. Two nurses skipped a Shania Twain concert. Another hadn't slept in 24 hours. They all decided Skylar's prom was more important.

At the end of the night, Skylar was crowned prom queen and her surgeon, Dr. Venkataraman Ramachandran, was crowned prom king. It was his first prom.

“A lot of people are ready to give up when they have difficult circumstances, but not her,” said Ramachandran.