BN- MEMPHIS- 9 year-old Sean Hanson wears a mask of freckles and his shock of curly wild hair is bright red. But he goes by the name &quo...
BN- MEMPHIS- 9 year-old Sean Hanson wears a mask of freckles and his shock of curly wild hair is bright red. But he goes by the name "Blue." Blue has a bright contagious smile. Clowns from the Shriners Circus gave him the ironic nickname. Doctors at the Shriners Children's hospital in Cincinnati gave him the smile. The clowns thought it would be clever for someone with such fiery red hair, to have a tag like Blue. And there is a story behind that bright smile too.
Blue was born with a cleft pallet and a cleft lip. He and his family have traveled to Cincinnati for 8 surgeries. Each time the treatment has been free, and each time so has the ride. The Al Chymia Shriners of Memphis have driven Blue 475 miles to the Shriners Hospital for each of those surgeries. The bikers help keep the Shriners on the road. For seven years, the Memphis Law Dogs, made up mostly of law enforcement officers, have held a poker run to raise money for the Shriners transportation fund.
"It touches the heart," Blue's mom, Debbie Hanson, says. "It really does. To know there are people out there who still care. There are so many things and so much negative out there. To have something huge like this that's so huge and to know that people care."
Saturday Blue made a poster for his biker friends and the poker run that reads "I smile 'cause the Law Dogs ride."
“This is just about helping the kids, the Shrine is about helping the kids. Anything we can do to help kids, especially kids that are hurting, it’s a good cause,” Joe Peel with the Law Dogs said. "We’ve done it seven years now and raised over $30 thousand. Each year it continues to grow and we get more support. The more we can help, the better it is.”
Blue's smile is looking great, one look at it and you feel your own face stretching into a grin. You just can't help it. It's infectious. It's also still a work in progress. He has another surgery on his jaw coming up. And don't think it's merely cosmetic. Kids with his condition have all kinds of medical complications. But some, like Blue, continue to smile through it all. Blue does it with a little help from his biker friends.
"They're awesome, they're supportive. They don't only think about themselves, they help the kids," Blue grins.
More: http://www.wmcactionnews5.com/story/30123698/biker-dad-the-story-behind-this-smile-8-surgeries-thousands-of-miles-and-hundreds-of-bikers
