Sand Springs Boy Named Shriners Patient Ambassador

It's an organization that's sometime's only remembered for it's iconic hats, but a Sand Springs boy is making sure folks all over the country know the Shriners' true mission.

At 12 years of age, Brendon Wiseley is a sprint car racer, a football star, a basketball player and now he's an ambassador. That's the title he was given because something of his was taken away.

You wouldn't know it by watching him play, but Brendon isn't like every other kid his age.

"When I was 7 years old, I was riding on a lawn mower and I fell off the side and it cut my foot off," he said.

The accident has been hard on his mother.

"I'm still struggling to this day with it," Allisha Wiseley said.

But it hasn't brought Brendon down.

"Just had to get over it and keep going," he said.

Brendon's progress came in part by his own determination, though the other part is thanks to the doctors at the Shriners Children's Hospital, in Shreveport, Louisiana.

"They have helped me by getting me a prosthetic," Brendon said.

While the Shriners were helping Brendon walk, he was making quite an impression on them.

"You'll never meet a finer 12-year-old than what Brendon is," said Jerrell Glass, Akdar Shriners' Past Potentate.

Brendon was named Shiners Patient Ambassador for 2013. He and one other patient were selected for the honor out of thousands of kids.

"There was really a lot and it kind of makes me proud that I was one of them picked," said Brendon.

His term started in July and since then, he's spoken in five states. He was a voice for the organization at the Shriners Open in Las Vegas. Then he helped raise $650,000 on a trip to Georgia.

"In Atlanta, I raised so much money that they set a record that year. They had never raised that much in Atlanta," Brendon said.

Brendon will continue to represent the Shriners through next summer, but the lesson he's leaving his mom is unforgettable.

"You always want your children to have all the opportunities to be a normal child, but what's normal? Because he's shown that normal can be whatever he makes it to be," Allisha said.

Brendon is Northeastern Oklahoma's first Shriners kid to be named a patient ambassador. In January, he'll be part of the Shriners float in the Rose Bowl parade.