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VALLEY — Despite some periods of heavy rain from Tropical Storm Francine still being in the area, a highly successful hamburger sale took place Saturday morning underneath the Farmers Market Pavilion in Valley. The hamburger sale was a benefit for a 15-month-old Huguley girl who is suffering from a rare medical condition.

Willow Hopkins has what’s known as hypopituitarism, a condition in which the pituitary gland doesn’t make one or more hormones or doesn’t make enough hormones.

The pituitary gland is a kidney-bean-sized gland at the base of the brain and is part of the body’s system of glands that make hormones for the endocrine system.

“We were hoping to sell around 200 hamburgers at the start,” said benefit organizer Candy Miles, “but when word got out the response was phenomenal. The community has rallied around Willow and her family. We take care of our own. When the ball got rolling on this we were up to 400 at our pre-sale last night, and we will sell over 800 today.”

Chambers County Sheriff Jeff Nelson was there helping with the cooking. “This is the sort of thing you do for friends and family,” he said. “I’ve known Willow’s dad Chuck for a long time. Like me, he works for the county. He’s with the highway department.”

Willow’s mom, Torie Hopkins, is a fourth-grade teacher at Fairfax Elementary School. Sharon Weldon and other personnel from the Chambers County School District were there Saturday morning to help out with the massive job of getting together and delivering over 800 bags of hamburgers. The Muscogee County chapter of the Widow’s Sons was there to help out as well.

Miles is the human resources director for auto supplier Shinhwa USA, in Auburn. An estimated 400 of the bags will be going to company employees. “We are so grateful our company is backing us with this,” Miles said.

“We want all our friends and our church family at Fairfax First Baptist to know how much we love them and how much we appreciate their support,” said Willow’s mom. “We also want to thank everyone at Learning and Growing Day Care. So many people have loved us and helped us through this. Their prayers and their support mean so much to us. The support we have gotten is truly mind-blowing.”

Willow has an older brother and sister. Bryant is a 15-year-old sophomore at Valley High and 11-year-old Kadence is a sixth-grade student at W.F. Burns Middle School. Kadence is a member of the 12 Tag softball team, which has adopted Willow as their mascot.

“We want to give back to the MAGIC Foundation,” Torie said. “They support those who have the condition Willow has.”

The MAGIC Foundation is this week promoting Children’s Growth Awareness Week. This takes place the week of September 15-21 and embraces the message that children have a short time to grow and a lifetime to live with the results.

There are many, many children out there like Willow who have some kind of medical condition that will affect their physical growth. With a short time to grow and a lifetime to live with the results, it’s critical to track this growth to identify trends. The MAGIC Foundation provides charts to see that a child is growing at the proper rate.

Growth Awareness Week has been observed in the U.S. since 2014. This annual week gets across the message that there are hundreds of medical conditions that can impact a child’s growth. Keeping track of a child’s measurements can reveal important indicators of a child’s development. Medical conditions need to be identified early. It’s not good to wait and see if a child can “outgrow” a problem.

Willow was born with hypopituitarism and will deal with it for the rest of her life. Not long after birth, she was airlifted to Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, where she stayed for a couple of weeks. That’s when her diagnosis was made and her treatment started. There’s lots of complications with what she has, and she’s had more than her share of setbacks.

She has earned the admiration of many for the way she’s been coping with it.

“She’s a strong little girl,” said her mom. “She’s a fighter. We love her so much and are so proud of her.”

The medical condition has placed an unexpected burden on a young family. “The cost of the medication and the hospital bills are something you never plan for,” Mrs. Hopkins said. “But we are grateful for the support we have gotten from the community, and we are so grateful to have Willow. She brings so much joy to everyone who knows her. If you are having a bad day, just being around her will cheer you up. She loves all of us, our friends, our church family and everyone at Living and Growing Day Care.”