Paige Calendine grows older, smarter, stronger

ZANESVILLE — Paige Calendine usually draws a crowd at her Friday gymnastics sessions at Zanesville Gymnastics.

Young girls in colorful leotards follow her around while she practices on bars, balance beams and ropes. If they don’t, she calls them over to watch.

Paige, 4, was born with no legs on June 16, 2011. Since Paige was featured in the Times Recorder in 2013, she has gotten physically stronger and socially bolder.

“She is really a spitfire,” said Harriet Amicone, founder of the Fieldhouse Foundation at the Fieldhouse Fitness Center in Zanesville. The foundation has worked with Paige for more than two years. “She just goes, goes, goes.”

Gymnastics, physical therapy and strength training along with the daily getting around have helped Paige develop astounding upper body strength. Her little arms are rock solid with muscle.

Like most toddlers, Paige is a quick mover. After finishing her gymnastics session one Friday, she bolted across the floor, swinging her body through her arms with her fists out the door to the play area filled with toys and games.

She sat at a plastic picnic table laughing, playing and watching her parents talk with her coach, Mallory Gardner, through the window.

Even sitting helps Paige build strength in her upper body. Because she cannot balance herself by putting her feet to the floor, sitting helps her core stabilization.

Mallory said Paige is a model gymnast. She has only made minor adjustments to her coaching style for Paige.

“At first I just kept telling her to stand up,” she said.

Mallory trains Paige to keep pace with her teammates the same age.

Paige’s mother, Heidi Calendine, said her daughter has become aware she does not have legs. Paige has even joked about it with her mom. But Paige does not see living without legs as a limitation because she never knew life with legs in the first place. To her, it is an inconvenience at most.

“If she can’t do things a certain way, she will find a way,” Heidi said.

Paige starts preschool this year at Maysville O’Tags Preschool, where she will meet more kids her age.

What concerns Paige’s parents is how her perspective will change as she gets older. She will begin to see what having no legs means to others based on their perceptions.

Preparing Paige for school has been a learning process for the Calendines. Paige’s father, Sean Calendine, said they have had to grapple with how much they want to accommodate Paige at home when the world outside their house may not be as friendly.

Sean gave the example of lowering counters and shelves. The Calendines could do so at home fairly easily, but they cannot expect schools or businesses to do the same.

“We don’t want to make it easy for her,” he said.

At school, Paige will use a wheelchair — which her father said has become one of her new favorite toys — as she continues to learn on her prosthetic legs.

Paige is adapting to using her prosthetics, which she controls with her hip muscles. She has changed models a few times to find a comfortable fit.

Sean said Paige tried walking one foot in front of the other and achieved moderate success. However, her doctors suggested forearm crutches to allow her to swing both legs through at once, using her upper body strength and conserving energy.

The family visits A Step Ahead Prosthetics in Hicksville, New York, just outside the city, once every four to six months.

“She gets a new pair of legs about every nine months,” Heidi said, which is costly.

The family receives assistance from the Children with Medical Handicaps Program offered by the state, better known as BCMH. They also have hosted regular benefits to help offset the cost of Paige’s treatment, including two in early September.

Chico Repulyan, who helped organize one of the benefits, said the first time he met Paige, he was inspired by her work ethic.

“It tugs at my heartstrings,” Repulyan said. “Just to have so much energy, so much life.”

Heidi anticipates this being the final year the family hosts benefits for Paige. Because her daughter is starting school, Heidi can return to work, lessening the need for fundraisers.

It will be the first time she has left Paige’s side since she was born, which worries her.

“She’s still my princess,” Heidi said.

According to Mick Amicone, founder of the Fieldhouse, Paige is not just her mother’s princess. She steals the heart of anyone who meets her.

The Fieldhouse Foundation, which partners with the United Way, provides children and young adults with physical disabilities with personal training sessions and gym memberships at the Fieldhouse. It serves close to 35 people on a regular basis, including Paige.

Mick said when Paige started, she was somewhat shy, but she soon broke out of her shell after meeting other children overcoming their own disabilities.

Since then, she has used the sessions to hone her tremendous strength.

“Paige is unique in that she is innately gifted with athleticism,” Mick said.

Paige usually comes to exercise at the Fieldhouse after she’s finished with gymnastics. Even after a long session at the gymnastics arena, she always comes ready to work out.

She uses a hand-cycle and climbs the stairs. There is a video of Paige on the Fieldhouse Instagram in which she climbs an exercise ladder.

“The cool thing about Paige is she’s everybody’s sweetheart,” Mick said.

bparks2@gannett.com

740-450-6758

Twitter:@Bradley_W_Parks

If you go

•What: Miles for Paige 5K Glow Walk/Run

•When: 8:30 p.m. Saturday

•Where: The Fieldhouse Family Fitness Center

•FYI: Contact Heidi Calendine at 740-297-8139 for information about registration.

• What: Ride for Paige Dice Run

•When: 11 a.m. Sunday

•Where: The Barn

•FYI: Contact Chico Repulyan at 740-819-9330 for information about the ride.