Shelby Lee’s Nike Free Run 2 is the fourth shoe to be rereleased in celebration of the 10^th Anniversary of Doernbecher Freestyle’s 10th anniversary.

Look for Shelby’s shoes in select Nike retail locations and on nike.com beginning Saturday, Aug. 17. (Visit insider.nike.com, for more information about Shelby’s shoes.)

Mike and Tanya Lee adopted Shelby from China in 2007. She had been diagnosed with a congenital heart condition called single ventricle. Without treatment, Shelby’s life expectancy was severely limited.

The Lees turned to the Cardiology and Heart Surgery Program at OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, and after five heart surgeries and seven cardiac catheterizations, Shelby’s life was forever changed.

Today, Shelby’s doing well and gives her doctors and nurses all the credit: “Sometimes I feel like I’m flying, because I can actually run.”

Shelby illustrated her medical journey on her Doernbecher Freestyle shoes, which include a hand-drawn map on the sock liner that traces her journey from the orphanage in China to her home here in the Pacific Northwest. On the tongue she included a graphic of a perfect heart with the letters “U.S.A.,” where her heart was fixed.

Now 14 and in the seventh grade, Shelby hopes to help people just like her by becoming a nurse when she grows up. She enjoys singing in the choir, riding horses, eating ice cream and playing with her recently adopted siblings, Ping and Jian Jun — both are from China and both are being treated for heart defects at OHSU Doernbecher.

As Shelby knows from experience, they’re in good hands. “When I came here, my heart was broken,” she explained. “But the doctors at Doernbecher made it whole again.”

Doernbecher 10^th anniversary special edition shoes rereleased to date include:

1. Mike Armstrong’s limited edition Air Max 95 (July 6)
2. Cole Johanson’s 2010 Air Jordan 3 Retros (July 20)
3. Colin Couch’s Air Force 1 Freestyle (Aug. 3)

Ashley Schmidt
Associate Director of Development
OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital Foundation