Special Needs Cheerleader Crowned Little Miss Wheelchair Texas

A member of Brownwood’s own special needs cheer team, Team Palladium, was recently crowned Little Miss Wheelchair Texas in Houston.

5-year-old Autumn Fought, the daughter of Brandy and Brandon Fought of Cisco was crowned and given the title of Little Miss Wheelchair Texas on February 14th at the Miss Wheelchair Texas pageant. With the title, Autumn has the responsibility of promoting awareness of special needs children by attending events to showcase the abilities of special needs children—as her mother stated, “Just because you’re different doesn’t mean you can’t do things that other kids can do.”

Mrs. Fought explained that Autumn is a very special and determined child and has defeated many odds that were against her. The first one was just surviving. Fought explained that Autumn is adopted, her birth mother was a cocaine addict who had no prenatal care and delivered her somewhere between 28-30 weeks. Autumn had cocaine in her own body at birth and suffered a stroke which caused her to be paraplegic, her legs were contracted and her feet were clubbed at birth, said Fought. She also had holes all over her intestines which required three surgeries to correct before she was 6-months-old, according to her mother.

Autumn was adopted by the Foughts at 6-months-old, the age she was finally released from the hospital after doctors had not expected her to live. The Foughts have two other adoptive children, a 6-year-old boy who is blind and is also wheelchair bound along with a 2-year-old boy with a sensory processing disorder.

Autumn began using a wheelchair when she was just a 1-year-old and learned to operate it very quickly, according to her mother Brandi, who stated she began to do wheelies down the ramp at their home soon after receiving the chair. At two, the Foughts noticed Autumn’s feet were not growing and she was complaining of her hips hurting. She also began to have muscle degradation below the knee. Doctors informed the Foughts that Autumn needed to have both legs amputated, and the operation was done in February 2013.

Since then, Autumn joined Team Palladium and is featured in their cheer routines doing hand stands and “popping” across the stage. (Popping is explained by Brandi as using her arms and “popping” on her bottom to achieve her mobility without a wheelchair).

Autumn gets around very well according to her mother, “She climbs up on furniture easily, and has been doing this since she was about one year old. She flips all over the house,” said Brandi. “It’s fun living with her, she’s very entertaining.”

The Foughts travel about once a month for Autumn to participate in cheer with Team Palladium in Brownwood and take advantage of the time here to also see her pediatrician, Brandi explained. When the team has a performance scheduled, they come about two to three times a month.

Cheer has helped Autumn immensely, according to Brandi, to feel a part of something. Brandi explained that although their children have special needs or handicaps, she and her husband teach them that they can do anything and Autumn has really taken that to heart. She attends preschool at Cisco Elementary and is involved in gymnastics along with cheer. Brandi stated that Autumn is just like any other 5-year-old, very focused on the movie “Frozen” and everything about it, and that she plans to play on a t-ball team this season. Autumn will “pop” to run the bases and Brandi stated that she “pops” just as fast as she can get around in her wheelchair, so it shouldn’t slow her down.

Brandi stated that she and her husband had tried to have their own biological children, but that it didn’t work out. They looked into adoption and decided on special needs children.

“It’s all about our faith, we didn’t set up to have special needs children and in fact, our first home study showed we weren’t equipped for special needs,” said Brandi. “We’re still not equipped – we’re just blessed, very, very blessed. We biologically tried to have children, but this is why, this is where we were supposed to be.”

Pictured above is Autumn after being crowned Little Miss Wheelchair Texas 2015. Below are more photos of the event. Photos contributed.