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GREATEST PERSON
OF THE WEEK
HUFFINGTON
06.17.12
it tough for him to play with his
friends without his mom right by
his side.
Blakemore said park barriers
and wood chips were another challenge: Zachary found it hard to
make moves in his wheelchair or
with his assistive walking device.
“We would play on playgrounds
here and I’d have to get Zach out
of his wheelchair and carry him
around,” Blakemore said. “It was
really emotionally draining and I’d
come up with any excuse to not
take them to playground.”
Instead of excuses, Blakemore
eventually found a solution — for
Zachary, now 12, and thousands of
other kids in metro St. Louis.
TOP TO BOTTOM: RAY ROCKWELL; WHITNEY CURTIS
THE ROAD TO CHANGE
Blakemore was skeptical about socalled “accessible playgrounds,”
but became a believer on a 2002
trip to Washington, D.C. That’s
where she first found a playground with a rubber surface that
Zachary could use his wheelchair
on, and ramps in the play area so
he could use the slides.
For the first time she watched
her son interacting with his peers
and having fun without her help.
The image of Zachary playing in
the park stayed with Natalie, and
while she and her husband Todd
considered moving to Washington,
she had a better idea: she would
bring the playground to Zachary.
‘MOM ON A MISSION’
It took four years — from the first
green light in 2003 to the 2007
opening of Zachary’s Playground
in Lake Saint Louis — for Blakemore to realize her dream.
Teaming up with Zachary’s
Brendan’s
Playground,
above,
opened in
O’Fallon,
Missouri in
2011.