Two Good Legs Wv Runner More Than Overcomes A Hip Deformity She Was Born With

You have to learn to walk before you can run.

Cori Watke, a West Valley High School cross country runner, learned to walk twice.

Watke was born with a congenital hip deformity that left one leg shorter than the other.

As a toddler, she was the 10,000th patient treated at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Spokane.

To correct the malady, Cori was encased from chest to toes in a plaster cast for six months.

Doctors had prepared her parents, Bob and Denise Watke, for the slight possibility that if the affected leg didn’t grow it could be amputated.

“If so,” said her mother, “we knew that we would have a beautiful one-legged girl.”

Wednesday, running on two good legs, the West Valley senior finished among the Frontier League’s top 20 runners for the fourth straight year in the regional cross country championship meet at Hangman Valley Golf Course.

“Before her second birthday she had to learn to walk all over again,” said Denise, “After that she always ran.”

Cori is the second of three Watke children treated at no cost at Shriners Hospital.

Older brother Allen, who placed 12th in district as a senior on WV’s 1995 state runnerup team, was seven months old when he was treated for a club foot. He also wore a pillow splint because a hip socket wasn’t fully developed.

Younger sister Rahni was born with two congenitally undeveloped hips. The problem was discovered when she was 5 months old and Rahni was placed in a Pavlik harness, a series of straps used to tighten and stabilize the hip capsule as it forms.

All three children were treated by Dr. Ed Lester.

“Dr. Lester would just crow with delight that our kids were better (runners) than normal kids which was exciting to us,” said Denise.

Allen is now a sophomore at South California College, an Assembly of God school in Costa Mesa. He runs on the school’s cross country team.

Rahni is a sophomore and a basketball player at Valley Christian School.

It was difficult to accept three family traumas, although things turned out fine. Bob, who owns Sunrise Janitorial, said the family’s religious faith bouyed them.

“We had to make a decision whether to jeopardize our relationship with the Lord or to trust him,” he said. “We knew what we needed to do and from that point on saw results.”

Few people outside the family know about the Watke family’s ordeal.

“I didn’t know about it,” said Jim McLachlan, who has coached six years of Watkes, “until they called to tell me about this story.”

Cori said it wasn’t a family secret. Since the three children all developed normally after treatment, she just didn’t think to tell anyone.

Besides, said Cori, she doesn’t remember much about her six-month incarceration in the cast, short of being put in a warm tub of water for therapy after being cut out of the cast a week before her second birthday.

“The parts I remember were seeing Sesame Street characters and the Cookie Monster on the walls when I was getting the cast off,” she said.

Her mother does recall that Cori screamed hysterically at the saw when the cast was removed.

“She thought it was part of her body, is all we could figure out,” said Denise.

Once at home, Cori’s first request was to take a bath. Mom turned on the water and went to find Cori, who had disappeared. Denise found her in the bathtub, fully clothed.

Cori was encouraged to pursue athletics by her older brother, who had set middle school cross country records.

“When we finished second in state he ran the best race of his life,” said McLachlan.

Cori first competed for West Valley as a ninth grader and finished 17th in district. As a sophomore she was 13th. Last year, she finished 17th again.

In Wednesday’s regional race, she placed 14th among Frontier runners and 38th overall. It wasn’t her best race. That came last week in Clarkston.

“This is one of my favorite courses,” she said. “It didn’t work today.”

That Cori can enjoy running today after all she went through as a toddler makes success relative.

“I feel fortunate,” she said, “If it wasn’t for the Shriners I probably wouldn’t do anything.”

Hip problems have run in the Watke family.

“Bob’s niece, who is 35, didn’t get hers corrected,” said Denise. “She has a permanent limp, which could have happened to our children.”

Instead, they have grown up healthy and athletic and have the Shriners Hospital to thank.

“I don’t know how many years ago our children would have been crippled for life,” said Denise. “And we’d have been crippled financially. The Shriners took care of everything.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 3 Photos (2 Color)