Pictured are the Foleys, front row, from left, Ryan, 7, and Jacob, 5; back row, Lauren, 14, Harry, 11, Patrick, Alex, 5, and Laurane. (Sean McGowan photo)

In the city of Cork, Ireland lives a family of seven whose youngest boy Alex, 5, suffers from cerebral palsy.

Thousands of miles to the west is Waterloo — a small town in southern Illinois in the United States. Not many tourists choose the city as a vacation resort.

But the Foleys weren’t interested in a vacation as they packed their bags in late June to take a trans-Atlantic flight from Ireland to Chicago, and Chicago to St. Louis. Their only goal was to give Alex the one piece missing in his life: the ability to walk independently.

So, in the beginning of July, they settled into an inn known as Timberwolf right in the heart of Monroe County, knowing that only 30 minutes north of them at St. Louis Children’s Hospital they would get the answers they needed for their little boy.

“It’s a lovely area, a lovely house,” Alex’s father Patrick told the Republic-Times. “This is rural America.”
Alex’s journey began early in his childhood, but the turning point of his story happened last year when he underwent his first operation for cerebral palsy. He went to St. Louis that summer for doctors to perform selective dorsal rhizotomy surgery on him.

Such an operation is most commonly performed on someone with spastic cerebral palsy to negate some of the spasticity in the legs. Specifically, spasticity involves the continuous contraction of certain muscles, which can impede movement and speech.

His operation and physical therapy thereafter allowed him to take a few steps on his own, still an improvement from where he started. This year, he saw an even greater improvement.

“He’s walking almost 100 percent independently,” Alex’s mother, Laurane, said. “We brought his walker from Ireland, and he hasn’t used it.”

In addition, one of Alex’s doctors told him he will no longer need to wear plastic orthotics on his feet and would only need insoles instead.

“We cannot express how amazing it is to hear about the progress that Alex has made this last year,” Laurane posted on “Alex’s Wish to Walk” Facebook page.

To get to this point, the family faced a few obstacles along the way. One of those consisted of their stay in downtown St. Louis last year.

“A police officer was shot around the corner from the apartment we were staying in,” Patrick said, to explain why the family felt unsafe in St. Louis.

That prompted them to find somewhere else to stay this time around. Simply put, Timberwolf in Waterloo served them perfectly.

The home began as a long-term rental and became short-term about a year ago. At the southwest corner of Market Street and Columbia Avenue, the home sees people from everywhere in the country — and sometimes from outside the country.

“It’s gone better than I ever thought,” Timberwolf property manager Brian Hart said. “If it’s empty, it’s only for like a day.”

In fact, as he spoke about the Foleys reaching the end of their visit, he mentioned that someone was coming to stay there mere hours after the family left.

So what makes the resort so popular?

“(The people who stay) all love Waterloo and that it’s safe and quiet,” Hart said. “That’s a big, big plus.”
For more information on Timberwolf, call 888-551-0803 or visit the “Timberwolf, Waterloo IL” Facebook page.

The Foleys agree with Hart’s assessment and enjoyed their stay immensely. One of the exciting rewards they received for staying at Timberwolf involved the famous Pokémon GO smart phone game.

“Brian said he would buy a beer for whoever was the first to catch a Pokémon, and my daughter Lauren caught one,” Laurane said. “She couldn’t have the beer, so he gave her five dollars instead. She was pretty happy about that.”

The food also treated them well, as the family doesn’t get to go to Chick-fil-A or Taco Bell at home. Patrick also revealed a shocking truth about his home and that would make most locals want to cry.

“There are no shops with ice cream in Ireland,” he said.

Throughout their trip, the Irish family continued to paint the town green with multiple trips to Six Flags, exploring restaurants in St. Louis, spending a day at the St. Louis Zoo and other activities. They also went to Dupo for their Fourth of July because of friends that live in the town.

“Alex really enjoyed his Fourth of July,” Laurane said. “The kids loved (the fireworks) because they have never got that close.”

On the way back from Dupo, they did encounter a traumatic incident in which Alex, who also has Epilepsy, suffered a seizure.

“That was the first time I had to administer his rescue medications,” Laurane said.

Even in such a challenging situation, Monroe County managed to shine in the eyes of the European family — EMS arrived in less than five minutes.

“We couldn’t believe how fast the EMS was,” Patrick said. “The wait is 20 to 25 minutes in Ireland.”
Overall, the Foleys enjoyed their experience enough to recommend the area to others.

“It’s safer, and it’s a lovely area,” Patrick said. “It’s kid-friendly. You would have to drive, but (the drive to St. Louis) is the same drive I have going to work every day.”