Twin Cities Girl Named Children's Miracle Network Champion

WEST ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- A West St. Paul fourth grader shares a distinct new honor with only 10 other kids in the country.

Ruth-Evelyn Pranke just got back from Orlando where she was named Children's Miracle Network Champion.

She is a national ambassador for kids who spend a lot of time at hospitals.

Even at her young age, Ruth-Evelyn has the game of life figured out. Janeen Marshall is her grandmother.

"I remember when she was just tiny, we wondered, 'How is she going to crawl?' And she rolled instead of crawled," Marshall said. "Many of the things that she's able to do, she just has figured it out on her own."

Ruth-Evelyn was born without arms, and with a magnetic soul. Just ask her medical care team at Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare. Michelle Hall has worked with Ruth-Evelyn since she was a toddler.

"Just her character, like, she is so fun, like she lights up a room when she's in it," Hall said.

She's also figured out how to create art, use a phone, ride a bike. And she's figured out people. She's had to, after getting stares and comments.

"When kids or people bully me, I'm like, 'Don't even try, bestie. Don't even try,'" Ruth-Evelyn said.

There are life lessons she's eager to share.

"Whatever you feel what's happening in your life, and you feel uncomfortable about it, just like take deep breaths and know that you're in this world for a reason," Ruth-Evelyn said. "You come up to me and say you are feeling sad, you know what I am gonna do. I am gonna give you expectations for yourself and what you can help yourself do."

And who better to listen to than a fourth grader whose already shattered expectations. She says she wants WCCO viewers and readers to know this about themselves.

"You're the best and you definitely, definitely deserve more than you even get," she said.

Ruth-Evelyn says she wants to be a missionary in Africa when she grows up, and open an art school for kids.