Many families take to the road during the summer in search of quality time together in a condominium near the beach or a cabin tucked in the woods. The Best family chose the latter, spending the first week of June at the YMCA Trout Lodge in Potosi, Missouri, a little over an hour south of St. Louis. However, this was not your typical family vacation, it was an opportunity to support their 4-year-old daughter Minh and give her the opportunity to experience the joys of camp with children and adults a lot like her.
Minh Amia Best was born in Vietnam on September 17, 2014, without any arms. Justin and Sarah Best began their journey to adopt a child with limb differences in September 2015. As soon as they saw photos of then one-year-old Minh, they knew she was meant to be theirs.
“I’ll never forget that first time I saw her face. My breath caught in my chest and tears filled my eyes,” Sarah said. “I immediately had images of her running and laughing, and calling out, ‘Mommy!’”
At age four and a half, Minh does do a lot of running, and jumping, and playing, and painting — lots and lots of painting. While art projects have always been some of Minh’s favorite activities, her newly-acquired passion for art serves a two-fold purpose.
Camp No Limits is part of a non-profit organization that provides camps for children with limb differences and limb loss, and their families. The goal of the camp is to educate, support and mentor these families in a welcoming atmosphere. There are several camps offered in specific states each year.
The Best family was able to attend their first No Limits camp this past January in Florida with other family members that have children with limb differences — and they were hooked.
June 2-5, the family attended their “home” camp in Missouri and couldn’t say enough about the experience. Not only was there rock climbing, zip lining, a rope course, swimming, kayaking, paddle boarding and canoeing available, there were also running and biking clinics for individuals with limb differences.
“So, if you have a kid without legs, they have running blades so your child can learn how to run on prosthetics legs,” Sarah said. “For kids missing upper limbs, they had regular bikes with training wheels.”
Sarah said the family worked with physical and occupational therapists to “rig up” different things so Minh could use her shoulders to steer the bicycle.
“It’s a lot more complicated to learn how to ride a bike when you are missing a body part,” Sarah said.
Despite a bit of trial and error, one of the biggest accomplishments at camp for Minh was when she learned how to ride a bike.
“The whole pavilion cheered for her — it was such a proud moment,” Sarah said. “She did fall — thank God for helmets — but by the end of 30 minutes, she left with a huge smile on her face and she asked if we could go back the next day.”
Minh also developed a passion for miniature golf during camp and was able to dance in the talent show and participate in several activities with differently-abled children.
Sarah said one of the most beneficial parts of camp for the families that attend is the opportunity to learn from medical experts, other parents in similar situations and older children or grown-ups who share their experiences.
“It just feels good — it’s family, something like that — it’s going home,” Sarah said.
With the Missouri camp costing $500 per person plus travel expenses, the Bests needed to raise funds in order to help Minh have these opportunities.
“We discovered almost immediately when she came home from Vietnam that she loved art,” Sarah said, believing that involving Minh in the creation of her own art pieces would help her to be an active part of the process.
Minh has received multiple requests for her unique artwork from people all over the United States, with several specific design requests and color specifications.
Sometimes Minh paints the backgrounds while Sarah touches up the edges and sometimes Sarah sketches out the design, while Minh fills in the details with a brush she holds between her toes or by making dots with her actual toes.
In just a few short months, Minh raised nearly $1,000 with her creative toes. Sarah said the support for Minh’s artwork and for their family’s mission has been overwhelming.
“Camp was actually paid for by a generous sponsor, so we just had to pay travel expenses,” Sarah said. “So money is not set aside for Florida camp. We would eventually like to get further out west to visit a family with a daughter similar to Minh.”
Sarah said, as Minh gets older, there will be different camp opportunities, such as those that focus on water activities and Nubability camp.
The Bests intend to continue fundraising for future camps, in the hopes that they can not only ensure their family can attend, but that other Owensboro families that have children with limb differences may have the opportunity to attend as well.
“It gets expensive to do two to three camps a year,” Sarah said. “We’re always going to have a fund set back to be able to go to these camps. It would also allow us to be able to help others here locally to make sure they had funds to attend.”
As for Minh, even though camp is over, she is still painting away. Her paintings have actually garnered her so much attention that she has been invited to host her first art show in Evansville in August. Although keeping up with a little artist and ensuring she has all of the resources and accommodations she needs can often be a challenge, Justin and Sarah wouldn’t trade it for the world.
“We cannot imagine her not being in our lives — and we look forward to adding more children with limb differences to our family in the future,” Sarah said.