Peter Bruce's ordinary life

By Matthew Cyr

Thirteen years ago Peter was born in the Philippines missing both arms below the elbow, his left leg below the knee, and having only a small hole where his mouth should have been. When he was 3 months old, his young mother decided that she would be unable to take care of him, and took him to an orphanage near Manila.

The nuns who ran the orphanage took Peter's picture and included it in an adoption agency newsletter, which then found its way into the hands of Wayne and Kathie Bruce.

By that point, in 1990, the Bruces were pros at adoption. They had already adopted six children„three from the United States and three from Korea„and were ready to try again. As they flipped through the newsletter, trying to glean what information they could from the photographs and simple descriptions, they came across Peter's picture. The caption said he had Pierre Robin Syndrome, a rare congenital abnormality that causes the lower jaw to be very small and the tongue to fall to the back of the throat, but there was frustratingly little else about what kind of condition he was in.

"The adoption agency didn't know anything about him besides what could be seen in the picture," says Wayne. "They couldn't tell us how he ate, if he could see or hear, or even if he was going to live more than a few months. So we passed on him."

Despite the Bruces' concerns, there was nothing life threatening about any of Peter's physical problems. Shortly after his arrival at the orphanage, he had a surgical procedure where doctors took skin from his hip and created a mouth so he would no longer have to be fed through an eye dropper. When he was 3 he got his first prosthetic foot. And just as important as the physical changes, fending for himself in the competitive atmosphere of the orphanage taught Peter that he could do everything the other children could. Just like everyone else though, he longed for a family to come take him home.

By 1994 Wayne and Kathie had adopted their eighth child, a son named Danny, from the Philippines, and decided they were ready to adopt again. They were flipping through more photos when they saw the unmistakable likeness of a now-4-year-old Peter. "I looked at Wayne and said, ïI recognize this boy; I think he was meant to come here,'" says Kathie. Shortly thereafter, Wayne took advantage of his family's second chance, and flew to the Philippines to pick Peter up. It's safe to say that Peter's was not the only life that changed that day.

A good kind of different
Shortly after arriving at his new home, the Bruces brought Peter to Children's Hospital Boston. He went to the Craniofacial Clinic to determine what, if anything, needed to be done about Peter's Pierre Robin Syndrome and to the NOPCO Brace Shop, a private company located within Children's that makes supportive devices and prosthetic limbs for patients with a range of problems. Those initial visits gave the Bruces and everyone they met at the hospital an idea what kind of person Peter is.

Peter, with seven of his 11 family members. Left to right, Norah, Wayne, Kathie, Charlotte, Danny, Colleen (hidden behind Peter) and Kerry.

Because of the shape of the lower jaw and the fact that the tongue can hang down the throat, many children with Pierre Robin have difficulty eating and breathing, but as Peter had proven in the previous four years, he could manage just fine. So he was being seen in the Craniofacial Clinic that day for aesthetic reasons. After an evaluation, surgeons told the Bruces they could fix Peter's lower jaw and mouth, but it would take a lot of work. "Since he didn't have any feeding issues, we left it up to Peter to decide," says Kathie, "and he told us he didn't want to have the surgery. He doesn't feel like he looks any different than anyone else."

With one exception. When he got to the United States, Peter had the same prosthetic foot that he got in the Philippines two years earlier, and since it had stayed the same size while Peter grew, it needed to be replaced. He made his first visit to the Brace Shop, where technicians gave him options for how his new foot could look. "Some kids want their foot or arm to be flesh toned so they look like everyone else," says Jim Wynne, director of Prosthetics at NOPCO, "and there are others who want their prosthetic customized with the logo of their favorite sports team, cartoon character or t-shirt. The first foot we made for Peter had a large-mouth bass on it because he's an avid fisherman. But when he read Harry Potter, he decided he wanted his leg to be made from a t-shirt with Fluffy, the three-headed dog."

When the techs were done Peter's leg stood out, just like the rest of him. There was only one problem, which Peter discovered while playing laser tag with his friends a couple years ago. "Peter kept getting shot during the game," says Kathie, "and that's when he figured out that Fluffy's drool glowed in the dark."

Peter of all trades
Both decisions„first not to have surgery and then to adorn his prosthetic foot with a three-headed dog„were the result of a confidence that Peter exudes no matter what he does. "Peter loves to be the center of attention," says Wayne. "He's the star of the family."

Those who know all of the Bruces say Wayne and Kathie are also stars. "I've always been struck by the fact that Wayne and Kathie have never focused on Peter's disabilities, only on his abilities," says Carol Nolan, BSN, RN, a nurse in Children's Orthopaedics Department who has known the Bruces for many years. "They do that with all their children. They've given them all opportunities to do a lot of things so they can figure out what they're good at."

They've found that there's very little Peter isn't good at. He fishes, plays football, kickball and baseball, and is on the soccer team in his hometown of South Dartmouth, Mass. He rides everywhere thanks to a bike that Wayne retrofitted with special rings for the ends of Peter's arms. He helps out around the Bruces' backyard farm, where they raise turkeys, pheasants, pigs and pumpkins. And according to Wayne, he did more than anyone to help his sister, Charlie, who has cerebral palsy, learn to walk. "She wasn't supposed to even be able to sit up," he says, "but he spent time with her every day, holding her hands and helping her along. Within a few weeks she was walking."

But the thing Peter loves most is drawing and painting. He always enjoyed it, but was encouraged to see how good he was when his sister, Norah, who is 16, and brother Danny, who is 15, signed up for a drawing class. "I like to be close to my brother and sister," says Peter, "so I decided to join the class with them."

This colored pencil drawing was Peter’s first official sale as an artist. It was purchased by Children’s nurses for $25.

When he draws, he alternately holds the colored pencils he prefers to use between the ends of his arms or sticks them under his watch band, and usually copies still pictures from a book. He's been so successful that he has sold two of his pieces to Carol Nolan and her fellow nurses, and won honorable mentions in contests where the judges didn't know the artist was missing his arms below the elbows.

Despite all of his successes, it's hard not to wonder if Peter sometimes feels different than his friends. "I can't do a lot of things that other people can do like reach very far or run as fast as my friends," he says, "but I feel like I do everything I want to do. I don't want people to help me too much. I want to do things for myself."

He's also fortunate to have a group of friends who he's been close to for years. "Peter has never been the butt of jokes," says Wayne. "His friends are protective and just won't let it happen. That comes from his personality."

As he enters his teenage years, Wayne and Kathie think that he may start having some difficulties, just like any other teenager. "He's got great friends, but the teenage years are hard on everyone," says Kathie. "He may decide that he wants to have surgery for his Pierre Robin Syndrome, but that will be a decision he'll make for himself when the times comes."

Until then, Peter is dealing with the issues of adolescence like any other 13 year old, including the confusion brought on by the opposite sex. "Sometimes girls say things I don't understand," he says. "I wish they would just say what they mean."

As they move into what promises to be a challenging time for everyone, Wayne looks back on the second chance they had to adopt Peter, and how it has changed all of their lives. "We need Peter more than he needs us," he says. "We just give him a step and he jumps off."