By Christine Thorpe

Eight-year-old Brianna Dupuie is out to change the world for kids just like her. 

Step one involves raising money by creating a carnival. Step two is to win a Battle of the Bands contest created by those funds. 

The final step is to become a spokeswoman for all kids with brain trauma and show them that they too are “wonderfully made.”

Brianna’s story began when she suffered a traumatic brain injury after being shaken by a babysitter as an infant. 

Among other things, a stroke damaged the right side of her body, leaving her with some muscle control issues and a limp, as well as a significant curve in her spine. 

Vigorous therapy and lots of patience is all that’s preventing her from living the rest of her life in a wheelchair. 

The two are involved in a lawsuit against the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which proposed a decrease of $350 million in the Medicaid Acute Therapy Program, which provides access to therapy for “tens of thousands” of children. The cuts have been temporarily blocked, and the lawsuit is ongoing.

Dena Dupuie, who adopted Brianna when she was two-years-old, said she is scrambling to give her daughter the care she needs. 

“Special needs kids without care can regress quickly,” Dena said. “Home therapists often spend a lot of their time driving to kids with special needs in rural areas, but they won’t be able to afford to after these cuts.” 

But through the philanthropic spirit that bonds them, both Brianna and Dena plan to further raise awareness for not only her cause, but for other kids with special needs as well. 

Setting the stage for Brianna’s goals 

With the help of her mother, schoolmates and the community, Brianna plans to hold a carnival on Oct. 3 benefitting Hope4Minds, a nonprofit group focused on helping kids with post-birth brain injury. The carnival will also benefit Camp Grace, an Austin day camp for special needs children.Carnival activities include painting pumpkins with Hays County Santa, karaoke, crafts, marshmallow shooting competition and more.

“Over the summer she says, “Mom, I want to have a party for special needs kids and tell them they’re wonderfully made,” Dena said.

Planning for Brianna’s party begans with lots of donations and local support. They’ve received almost all of their donations through the “Buy Nothing Buda/Kyle” Facebook group, the local arm of a national program. 

Older students at Brianna’s school, the Veritas Academy of Austin, are working with the Dupuie’s to build booths, marshmallow shooters, toys and prizes for the carnival.

In addition to raising awareness to their cause, Dena said funds from the carnival would also go toward providing relief for local survivors of the Memorial Day floods. 

Dena, who volunteers with the Austin Disaster Relief Network, said she was assigned to help a flood survivor in San Marcos. When she went to assist in flood recovery, she was shocked at the situation she found. 

“I walked in and started having an asthma attack,” Dena said. “No one knew he was still living there on River Road.” 

It was after that event that Dena said she wanted to help in a bigger way. 

But funds generated from the carnival will also go toward creating a Battle of the Bands fundraiser in Dripping Springs later this month. 

That will be where Brianna will be performing with her band, Beautiful Minds. 

Building her band has been a journey in itself, with the help of Blue Water Highway Band member and Curious Chords teacher Catherine Clarke. 

“We went to another piano teacher who said they couldn’t work with her [because of Brianna’s fine motor skill issues]. Curious Chords said ‘We’re not going to give up on her,’” Dena said. 

The winner of the Battle of the Bands will get the chance to perform at Stubb’s in Austin, as well as get six hours of recording time. 

Navigating their way through dark times. 

But the family has dealt with their share of dark times as well. It stemmed from emotional trauma Brianna developed from dealing with not only her disability, but also the knowledge that she was adopted. 

“The therapist told me that between seven and eight years old she may have difficulty processing her adoption story, and as soon as she hit seven and a half she did,” Dena said. 

It was at that time Breanna’s therapist recommend a book called The Guide to Being Awesome by Robby Novak, an 11-year-old Youtube sensation who has osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), a brittle bone condition that has resulted in his having more than 70 breaks since birth.  

Brianna connected to the book and it’s small wisdoms, such as, “be like cheese or bacon and make everything you touch better.” 

Between school, her band, commercial dreams and legislative drama, Brianna still focuses on helping kids she relates to feel good about themselves and their situation. 

 “Because I just want special needs kids to be happy,” she said.

Save the Date

Carnival

Oct. 3 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Hays YMCA. 

Battle of the Bands

Oct. 17 at the Rusty Mule in Dripping Springs