Special One-Year Surgery Anniversary For Congress Champion Small Fry, Miss Allie Paul

By: Brittany Bevis

You’d never know simply by looking at the high-spirited, spunky 8-year-old, Allie Paul, that she’s undergone quite a lot during her young life. Allie was born with branchiootorenal (BOR) syndrome, a genetic disorder that damages the kidney and can cause partial or complete hearing loss.

Last year, around this time, the disease had progressed to the point that Allie needed to undergo dialysis in preparation for a kidney transplant. Luckily, Allie’s mother, Jennifer, was a match. On November 11th, 2014, exactly one year ago today, the pair headed into surgery with the hopes of a successful operation that would alleviate Allie’s health problems.

One year later, not only is Miss Allie surviving, she is thriving, as evident from her recent Congress Championship win in Small Fry Showmanship at the 2015 All American Quarter Horse Congress.

“Allie is doing great,” says her father, Judd Paul. “As soon as surgery was over, her labs were all back to normal. To this day, a year later, her labs are still excellent. There are no additional surgeries planned for the future. All of her doctors at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital are extremely pleased.”

Judd explains that he was born with only one kidney. Although Allie was born with two, the genetic disorder caused them to be too small for her size and they quickly deteriorated. Instead of a traditional kidney transplant, Allie kept her two small kidneys and took one large kidney from her mother. Who knows? Maybe having that third kidney gave Miss Allie some extra special super Showmanship powers!

Because Allie is quite small for her age, her parents knew she’d need a horse with a very special temperament. They settled on a large, but sweet, gelding named Genuine Sheik, who was purchased in the summer of 2014. “Sheik is a one-in-a-million horse,” Judd says. “He absolutely loves and adores Allie. He has won the Congress with his previous owner Brister Shum. We can’t thank Brister enough for letting Allie purchase Sheik last year.” In 2014, Allie and Sheik placed third in Small Fry Showmanship and were the NSBA Champions.

“Also, we’d like to give a huge thanks to Mark Dunham for coaching Allie to this year’s win, so we were able to be Mom and Dad. We are forever grateful to Mark and Brister. This is very emotional for both of us, because it still seems like yesterday we were all in the hospital. We are just so proud of her.”

Following her run in Small Fry Showmanship, both Judd and Jennifer asked Allie what she thought of her performance. She said, “I think it was a winning go!” And when it was time for the final results to be announced, Allie was determined not to miss a single moment. “When they called the Reserve Champion, we wanted Allie to come over to the rail to get hugs and kisses from Jennifer and I, but she wouldn’t because she might miss her name being called Congress Champion!

Congratulations Miss Allie!- from your friends at The Equine Chronicle