Girl praised for happy face in face of challenge

Dana Standke’s high spirits have impressed friends and family members in the months since a farming accident cost the elementary-schooler her right forearm. 
Sunday morning, it was greater Ellendale’s turn to display its own indomitable spirit.
Hundreds of residents packed NRHEG Elementary School in Ellendale for a 4.5-hour fundraiser aimed at defraying the high costs of Dana’s medical bills, standing in long lines to have breakfast or buy tickets for a silent auction and a meat raffle. Forty to 50 volunteers wearing “Team DANA” T-shirts darted to and fro to handle the crowds; the backs of the gold and purple T-shirts revealed “DANA” to be an acronym for “Daring, Adventurous, Non-stop Attitude.”
Indeed, the November auger accident in rural Ellendale hasn’t altered the 11-year-old’s career goal of becoming a veterinarian. She donned her new prosthetic arm as she sat in the administrative area of the school, identifying new arrivals outside the windows by name. The large turnout didn’t faze her, nor did the adjustment to using her new arm.
“It’s what I expected,” she said. “I’m able to pick up stuff.”
One thing has caught her by surprise in recent weeks, however: others’ kindness.
“I didn’t think they were going to be that supportive,” she said of her friends, singling out Sophie Stork as a particularly caring schoolmate. 
Sophie said she was shocked when she learned Dana had been hurt.
“My mom told me about it at the time that she found out,” Sophie said. “It was kind of a rough day for me and all of our friends. I was really in shock and didn’t know what to do, really.”
Dana’s father, Dan Enzenauer, suffered a similar arm injury nearly 40 years ago. It turns out an acquaintance of Sophie’s grandfather had gone through the same thing.
“My grandma told me that,” she said. “He … has lived a really long life and had kids.”
Sophie said she visited Dana in the hospital, where Dana spent a combined three weeks, and “it was interesting for me to see what it was like. I was glad to see she was doing well. She still had her positive attitude.”
In fact, Sophie said she hasn’t seen Dana express anything other than optimism.
“She never looks at the negative; she always looks at the glass half-full instead of half-empty,” she said.
Dana’s mother, Shelly, speculated that the girl has gained her stoic strength at least partly from watching her father function well with his arm, which has limitations but wasn’t amputated. She adopted Dana from Nepal when the girl was about 1.
Sunday’s attendance impressed Bartness, who has helped organize other fundraisers.
“This is big,” she said. “You know … there’s something to be said for small-town communities. They rally around each other. It blows me away every time, the way people are willing to help each other out.”
Glenn Wiesjhan, who was the president of Zion Lutheran Church in Ellendale at the time of Dana’s accident, helped organize Sunday’s event.
“She’s faced with all of this, but that’s not really holding her back,” he said. “She’s always on the go. She’s always positive.”
Parent Amber Holdeman tended to her sons Jonathan Holdeman and Jerzy Johnson in the gym, where various items were sold and auctioned. She said she showed up with her family because her third son, Asa Johnson, is a classmate of Dana’s.
“He said that she’s been super-positive, and she’s always got a smile on her face,” Holdeman said. 
Sophie expressed gratitude for Sunday’s outpouring of generosity, pointing out that Dana had four expensive surgeries and a helicopter flight after the accident.
“I’m so glad to see all the people who maybe aren’t as close to Dana come, to just support them and help them out,” she said of Dana’s family.