For the family of a local fourth-grader, today’s Karem Shrine Little League Classic carries a special meaning.

The profits for this event go to support Shriners Hospitals for Children, and Todd and Vicki Thomas are all too familiar with the kind of work those hospitals perform.

In 1998, the Thomases’ son, Brent, was born with a right foot that twisted inward “like a golf club,” Todd said.

Subsequent visits to doctors revealed a diagnosis of clubfoot, a congenital deformity that affects about 200,000 children worldwide.

For more than a year, the Thomases drove to Fort Worth once a week so Brent’s foot could be covered with a new cast.

Through some searching, the family finally met with Igancio Ponseti, a doctor in Iowa who recommended lengthening the tendon in Brent’s right leg through surgery.

Ponseti directed the Thomases to the Shriners Hospital in Houston, where Brent underwent two surgeries to help correct the abnormality.

Brent, now 11, is a budding baseball player who will be on the field today for the Midway Cardinals when they play the Midway Red Sox at the Karem Shrine Classic.

“What will really be exciting to see is what this event turns into next year,” Todd Thomas said. “Because this is something that could help a lot of people for a long time.”

bcherry@wacotrib.com

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