When Aimee Peepgrass was born, 17 years ago, doctors doubted she would live more than just a few days. Bleeding on her brain in the womb had left Aimee severely brain damaged they told her grandmother, Julie Matsushima.
"It was devastating," Julie recalls. "We were crushed."
It wasn't until Julie held Aimee for the very first time, though, that she felt a glimmer of hope. It came from Aimee herself. "I just felt something from her," Julie says. "I felt like she wanted to live. She wanted to be part of the world."
Aimee has been a part of the world ever since, though challenged to live her life in a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy as well as other disabilities.
Still, that moment in the hospital, Julie believes, changed the course of both their lives, and in a very direct way, is now making life better for other children with special needs.
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Julie's advocacy on behalf of children like Aimee with disabilities was cited by the Rotary Club of San Jose as a reason why, when looking for a project to undertake to celebrate the club's centennial, they chose to build the Rotary Playgarden, perhaps the most accessible playground in all of Northern California.
The $6.5 million playground, gifted to the city of San Jose, is located in the Guadalupe River Park across Coleman Avenue from the San Jose Market center. Mayor Sam Liccardo cut the ribbon to open the park to the public this past Saturday.
Designed by Oakland's PGA Designs, the 4.1 acre park is equipped and landscaped to be accessible for children regardless of their level of ability.
Julie first became aware of accessible playgrounds when she and Aimee stumbled across one during a trip to Southern California six years ago. Up until that point, Aimee would always have to sit and watch as her brother and twin sister played on equipment she couldn't enjoy.
It sparked Julie to take an interest in accessibility of playgrounds and soon found herself a member of the San Jose Parks Commission where she made others more aware of the difficulties that special needs children face going to parks. Then, upon becoming president of the San Jose Rotary Club, Julie continued to educate others and helped raise enough money to install 29 adaptive swings in parks across the city as part of her presidential project.
“It was really Amy that inspired me to talk about it,” Julie says.
When it came time for Rotary to start planning their Legacy Project, someone in the club suggested a boundless playground, much like one that Julie had taken Aimee to during that trip.
Now, five years later, the Rotary Playgarden is officially open to the public.
Seeing Amy take a spin on the wheelchair accessible carousel for the first time was a huge moment for Julie.
“It just brought tears to my eyes, it was just wonderful to see her just having fun and not dependent on somebody else to do it for her.”
Though the new playgarden is not just for Aimee, Julie says that if it hadn’t been for her, it may have never happened.
“She’s taken me on a journey I would have never traveled without her being part of my life.”
