Earnhardt Jr. reaches out to special fan

By DENNIS BRUNSON
Item Sports Editor
dennisb@theitem.com

When Amy McKenzie was 4 years old, she began to lose her ability to hear and to speak. She learned sign language to communicate with her parents, Jenny and McNeil McKenzie, but she didn't have to use it to let her parents know how much she loved automobile racing.

Her parents are both racing fans — McNeil raced for many years at Sumter Speedway — and it was something that came naturally to her. Along with the dirt-track racing, Amy is a NASCAR fan as well. She had an affinity for the late Dale Earnhardt and that grew to include Dale Earnhardt Jr. when he joined the then Winston Cup Series.

"She would sign that Dale Jr. was cute," Jenny McKenzie said of her daughter.

Amy can't sign to her mother now about how good-looking she thinks Junior is. A near-death experience in which she had a stroke and was found to have a fatal disease called mitochondrial encephalopathy robbed the 19-year-old Amy of that. Even after 10 weeks in the hospital, what it didn't take from Amy was her ability to show happiness through her smile, and she wore a big one on the afternoon of Saturday, May 7.

What started as a family friend making some telephone calls to some local businesses ended up with Amy McKenzie and her parents traveling to Darlington in an ambulance to meet Earnhardt Jr. at Darlington Raceway just a few hours prior to the Dodge Charger 500.

"When he first came in, her mouth was open and her eyes were real big," Jenny McKenzie said of Amy's reaction when Earnhardt Jr. entered the ambulance. "When he walked in, it was almost like she was in shock.

"It meant a lot to her, though. It really made her day."

A TURN FOR THE WORSE
When Amy McKenzie began to lose her hearing and ability to speak at the age of 4, she was diagnosed with Rett Syndrome, a neurological disorder that occurs mainly in girls. It can cause loss in muscle tone, hand-wringing and a diminished ability to express oneself among other things.

While Amy was certainly affected, it didn't slow her down. She graduated from Sumter High School in 2004. Jenny said she could do things for herself and "could get up and walk outside if she wanted to."

However, Amy didn't have Rett Syndrome.

In December 2004, Amy began to have a continuous bout with nausea, vomiting and migraine headaches. Doctors told Jenny it was a virus, but she didn't believe that to be the case because it was an ongoing situation. She went to Richland Palmetto Hospital in Columbia to have doctors to check her condition on Jan. 15.

"She walked in that day, but she didn't walk out," Jenny said.

She was admitted when it was found that the enzymes in her liver were high. Amy had a grand mal seizure after returning home from her first hospital stay and was placed in the intensive care unit. One day beginning at 7 a.m., she had seizures for nine consecutive hours.

Amy stayed in ICU for 14 days. At one point, doctors told Jenny and McNeil that they had done all they could do for Amy. Jenny said her daughter was alive because of the machines to which she was connected.

"One of the nurses said, 'She went all the way to death's door, knocked on it, turned around and came back,' " Jenny said.

Doctors talked with the McKenzies about the possibility of placing Amy in a nursing home or a rehabilitation facility when it was found she had lost use of the right side of her body because of the stroke. Jenny would hear none of that.

"She's just 19 years old. She wasn't going in a nursing home," Jenny said. "I told them to teach me everything I had to do and I would take care of her. That's what they did. That's now just part of what I do each day."

Amy receives her nutrition through a feeding tube as well as her medicines because of her inability to chew. She is able to drink by mouth. Amy is on nine different medications, including three seizure medications. Three different types of feeding tubes were used before one was found that suited her.

"She's alert. She knows everything going on around her," Jenny said. "It has not affected her mind or swallowing ability."

Still, the McKenzies understand the reality of the situation.

"The doctors told us that one day this will take her life," Jenny said. "When that is is up to the good Lord."

A FRIENDLY GESTURE
McNeil McKenzie works for Allsbrook Electric & Equipment. His boss is Alfred Allsbrook, and one day Allsbrook's wife, Gladys, came to the McKenzie's home to visit the family.

"She asked me if there was anything Amy needed, and I said she really likes Dale Earnhardt Jr.," Jenny said.

Jenny thought Gladys Allsbrook might get Amy some things with Junior's name or No.8 on them. Instead Allsbrook thought about getting the man himself.

"I thought about it a little bit, and I asked Jenny if she had a wish," Allsbrook said. "She said her (Amy's) wish wish was to meet Dale Earnhardt Jr."

Allsbrook first went to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, but they were informed that Amy was too old to have her wish granted by that organization.

"I said, 'Well, there's more than one way to get something done," Allsbrook said.

Since Budweiser is the primary sponsor for Junior's car, Allsbrook made contact with David Shaw of H & S Wholesalers, the local Budweiser distributorship.

"I explained her situation, that she had been sick all of her life, and what had happened," Allsbrook said. "He said he would do his best to make it happen."

THE BIG DAY
On Friday, May 6, the McKenzies found out that Amy would have the opportunity to meet Earnhardt Jr. She was to be at Darlington Raceway the next day at 4 p.m. The only way Amy could make the trip was via ambulance and Carolina Medcare supplied the vehicle.

"They told me if they are able to make that (visiting Earnhardt) happen, then they would take care of that," Jenny said.

Jenny said she told Amy what was going to happen, and that she just started smiling.

"It's hard to say what was going through her mind," Jenny said of Amy. "She was probably wondering how we were going to make it happen."

When the McKenzies completed the 40-miles-or-so trek to Darlington, Amy was sat up in her stretcher. Having gone to Darlington Raceway with her father on several occasions, she had no trouble recognizing her surroundings.

"We sat her up so she could see out the back door," Jenny said. "She started to smile because she knew where she was at."

The decision was made to have Earnhardt visit Amy in the back of the ambulance, which was situated in an isolated area inside the track. When Earnhardt showed up, Jenny said he didn't make a grand entrance.

"He came in and said, 'Who's this little girl? Hi, Amy, how are you doing?' " Jenny said. "He was just really nice.

"He sat down and talked with us, asked us how Amy was doing, and asked us how we were doing."

Earnhardt Jr. visited with the family for 15 or 20 minutes, and while he was pushed for time, he never appeared hurried to the family, according to Jenny.

"He said, 'Do you just want me to sign some stuff?' " Jenny said. "We said we did, and he signed everything. He was just an ordinary person, down to earth."

BEING THANKFUL
The McKenzies are more than grateful for everything that was done to allow Amy to meet "Little E."

"When we got there, and I saw everything it took just for us to see him (at the track)..., I don't know how to start thanking all the people," Jenny said. "I'm scared I might leave somebody out. It was a lot of work done by a lot of people.

"It was nice everyone pulled together and made it happen. It was something special, and it is something she'll remember."