PORT ANGELES — Auditions begin this week for a talent show dedicated to helping a young girl get both feet on the ground.
The sixth annual Benefit and Talent Show at Port Angeles High School, 304 E. Park Ave., which is set for 7 p.m. March 27, will benefit Hayden Webber, a 9-year-old student at Queen of Angels school.
Public auditions are open to all and will be held from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday in the Performing Arts Center at the school.
Hayden was born with a condition known as proximal focal femoral deficiency, which caused her right femur to grow bent, twisted and shorter than her left.
She walks using a “third foot,” a brace for her shortened leg that acts as a prosthetic leg to match the length of her healthy leg.
Her family has found a specialty hospital in Florida where Hayden can get leg-lengthening surgery and a new knee so that she can walk with both of her feet on the ground.
The family will need to relocate there for at least two months, said Jodi Thies, Hayden’s mother.
The family is waiting to hear from its insurance company to learn how much of their expenses will be covered, Thies said.
Proceeds from the benefit talent show will go to Hayden’s medical expenses, said Dana Snell, advisor of the student leadership class, which organizes the annual show.
Each year, the class selects a community member to be the beneficiary of talent show proceeds — usually those with health crises and difficulties paying for medical needs.
“We are looking for a variety of talent and would love to see community members show us your talent,” Snell said.
Tickets for the show will be sold at the door the night it opens.
They will be $8 per adult, $5 per student and $20 for a family of four.
A silent auction will be held prior to the show, with doors opening at 6:15 p.m.
Donations for Hayden also can be made at www.gofundme.com/surgeries-for-Hayden. As of Sunday, $5,815 had been raised of a $60,000 goal.
In the 2010 inaugural talent show, the recipient was Tammy Goodwin, a Sequim High School graduate and mother of two Port Angeles graduates.
Goodwin died March 14, 2010, at the age of 47 after a long battle with a sarcoma, a cancer of the soft tissue.
In 2011, the class selected Cornerstone Tabernacle Pastor Kevin Jones, who was undergoing treatment for an aneurism because of a genetic heart condition.
Jones and his family have since moved from the area.
The 2012 students selected Camille Frazier, a Port Angeles schools para-educator.
Frazier died June 12, 2014, after a long fight with a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer.
In 2013, the leadership class selected Liz Romero, mother of five PAHS graduates.
Romero died Dec. 15, 2012, after a three-year battle with an aggressive brain tumor called a glioblastoma multiforme.
Students chose to hold the talent show benefit in her memory and donated the funds to her family.
The 2014 recipient, Justine Raphael, was the mother of the 2013-14 student body council president.
Raphael died Nov. 2, 2014, of a rare and aggressive inflammatory breast cancer.
For more information on the talent show or to find out how to donate items, phone Snell at 360-565-1561 or email dsnell@portangelesschools.org.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
