If you told KK Roots that he’d design his own athletic shoes one day, he wouldn’t have believed it. Even more, if you told him he’d design that shoe as a patient at Children’s Hospital, he probably wouldn’t have believed that either.
However, thanks to a nationwide program sponsored by Saucony, a shoe and apparel company, that’s exactly what happened at Children’s Hospital New Orleans.
“I was so surprised to have an opportunity like this,” said Roots, 21.
It was a welcome change from a challenging period in his life. On March 28, 2019, the vehicle Roots was driving was hit head-on by another car on a two-lane road in Shreveport.
“I have no memory of the accident or of being trapped under my car, and for me, that’s a blessing,” Roots said. “I was in a coma for two days at Ochsner LSU Health in Shreveport. When I woke up, I had no idea where I was or why I was there.”
Roots said the doctors told him and his family that he had suffered a traumatic brain injury.
“My entire left side was paralyzed,” Roots said. “I was really scared and confused.”
KK Roots shows off the shoes he designed through the Run for Good Children’s Program, in collaboration with Saucony.
After two weeks at LSU, Roots was transferred to Children’s Hospital where, for several weeks, he underwent intensive physical and occupational therapy.
“It was a grind every day,” he said, but the self-described “very competitive person” was released from the hospital in time to walk across the stage to receive his diploma in the spring of 2019 from Bossier High School.
Run For Good
In June 2020, Saucony, located in Waltham, Massachusetts, kicked off the Run For Good children’s program in an effort to help fight childhood obesity and encourage children to get fit while giving young patients an opportunity to express themselves. To further support the mission, Saucony will donate a total of $25,000 from the sales of this special collection.
“We collaborated with the children on every aspect of the shoes,” said Jordan Yob, senior brand manager for Saucony.
According to Yob, Saucony asked the patients to fill out a questionnaire so the team could learn more about their interests and hobbies. Then, the company’s design team met with the children and families on Zoom to talk through colors, artistic visions and more. Yob said that once the designs were in place, the patients decided on their favorite one, and Saucony worked on making the shoes. The shoe-making process took around 18 months, Yob said.
The children didn’t see the shoes again until they were unveiled at a special ceremony at Children’s in April 2022.
“You could see how happy each child was when they saw the final product,” Yob said.
Once in a lifetime
Kelley Adamec, development consultant at Children’s, emphasized the various health challenges patients have undergone at the hospital. In stark contrast, the opportunity to become a shoe designer was special.
“This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for them to design a shoe with an international brand and have something to represent each of their unique stories,” Adamec said.
Four other patients from Children’s also had the chance to design sneakers for Saucony, including Brenna Roberts, Zachary Cresson, An-Nour Shakov and the late Colt Wolfe.
“It’s crazy that I was selected,” said 12-year-old Brenna. “There were times when I felt like this wasn’t really happening for me but it was, and I was so excited.”
Right after her third birthday, Brenna was diagnosed with a rare form of Crohn’s that only affects children — a type of inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation in the digestive tract that can lead to abdominal pain, diarrhea, fatigue and weight loss. Since then, she has undergone yearly colonoscopies, several hospital stays and frequent infusion therapies. When she was selected to design her own shoes, Brenna saw it as an opportunity to express herself.
“I wanted to create something that was bright and fun,” said Brenna, the daughter of Becca and Michael Roberts.
The Roberts family recently moved from Metairie to Tullahoma, Tennessee, where Brenna’s treatment for Crohn’s will continue at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. Just like at Children’s, Brenna will be cared for by a team of specialists, since she is not in remission.
Brenna said her shoe design focused on the things she enjoys the most: nature, the beach and beautiful colors.
“I would describe my shoe design as a shimmery, rainbow pastel,” she said. “There’s a little mermaid on the tongue of the shoe and the inside of the shoe displays a beach gradient. The laces and some of the shoe itself are purple, my favorite color, and the bottom part is a glittery pearl-like color.”
Roots said his shoe design includes his favorite color, scarlet, as well as baby blue and yellow, favorite colors of his parents, Reginald and Arneshea Roots.
“It truly is a family shoe,” he said.
Looking toward the future
Roots is now working as a substitute math teacher and assistant basketball coach for the Bossier City school system. He said designing more shoes could be in his future.
“It’s been four years since my accident, and one thing I have learned is to take one day at a time,” Roots said. “And yet, I am thinking ahead that maybe designing shoes is the beginning of a new direction for me in the future.”
Brenna said she was “stunned at how cool the shoes looked” at the official unveiling last year. Maybe even more stunning, Brenna’s shoes are completely sold out on the Saucony website.
“That blows me away — it’s just so insane,” Brenna said. “I’m really happy and proud of my design. I worked hard on it and the shoes came out exactly how I wanted.
“Since my health has been up and down, I was happy to have something else to focus on besides Crohn’s. The project made me feel that there really is light at the end of the tunnel for me.”
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