Family remembers daughter's tiny toes

Little Faith Winder's short life was plagued by congenital birth defects.

Suffering from Hydro-

cephalus and the complications that go along with it, Faith spent countless days in the hospital as doctor's battled to save her life.

But despite her struggles, the thing she was best known for by the hospital staff were her fancy little socks, said her mother Christine Winder.

Faith's first set came from a family friend who brought pumpkin socks for her to wear during a hospital stay in October 2000.

From then on whenever Faith went back in the pediatric unit at Washoe Medical Center, her feet were kept warm by a playful fresh pair.

"The most perfect part on her body were her little feet," said Christine.

In her last visit to the hospital in July 2001, it was Winnie the Pooh that adorned her tiny toes. Faith died a week before her first birthday.

In honor of her strong little girl, Christine has donated socks to the pediatric unit every year on her daughter's July 18 birthday.

This year, her oldest son A.J. and Faith's fraternal twin Bethanney have joined in the collection. They call it Tiny Toes.

"When my twin was in the hospital it was always like around Christmastime, so we'd bring her cute little socks," said Bethanney, an 8-year-old Mark Twain Elementary School third-grader who remembers a "little" about the sister she came into the world with. "So I'm collecting socks for the hospital now, too."

Winder's son A.J., a Carson High senior, just finished up his collection.

Bethanney's collection ends this week.

Mark Twain Elementary has made it a school-wide event. The classroom that collects the most will be rewarded with an ice cream party.

"She organized everything herself," said Bethanney's teacher Beth Tryon.

At recess early this week Bethanney and her friends Linda Arreola and Alexis Paradas taped Tiny Toes signs onto 10-gallon buckets and the trio distributed them to each of the building's 22 classrooms.

The goal is to find "warm socks and fun socks" that can be used by the pediatric patients ages newborn to 18 years old, said Bethanney.

Christine thinks this year with everyone pitching in, she should have enough to donate to Renown Regional Medical Center and St. Mary's and Carson Tahoe Regional Medical Center, too.

"It's just great that we can still do something in memory of Faith together," she said, recalling the joy that loving Faith brought her. "I don't know what I did right to have been blessed with such a wonderful child."