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CONTENT QUEEN: East queen Anna Bird smiles for pictures in Portland while visiting the Shriners Children’s Hospital. - Submitted photo

Bird, of Joseph, is representing the East team as a queen for the Shriners East-West All-Star game.

Of course, most people would rather avoid the road she traveled to earn the honor to represent the East team.

The soon-to-be high school junior’s whirlwind tour of excitement started with pain.

Two years ago Bird had a severe cough. Her parents took her to the hospital to get a chest x-ray.

While the cough received treatment, the x-ray revealed a whole lot more — severe curvature of the spine.

Initially Bird’s parents selected a typical hospital. But a referral to the Shriners Children’s Hospital changed that plan.

“We didn’t know exactly what to do,” Bird said. “It made everything a little easier knowing I was going to the Shriners

hospital. That’s where you get the best of the best.”

However, her age prevented treatment by simply wearing a brace. Doctors scheduled Bird for surgery.

Thoughts of the impending procedure still brought tears to her eyes.

It wasn’t the visions of a scalpel, incisions or a hospital stay that worried her. Bird didn’t want to miss the Eagles’ basketball season.

“There were a couple of girls who missed the previous season with injuries,” Bird said. “I didn’t want to do that.”

That’s when doctors at the Shriners Children’s Hospital delivered.

They inserted two 14-inch rods in her back — on both sides of her spine.

Typical results yield a 60-70 percent spine correction.

Bird’s results came back with 90 percent correction.

But the best news came when Bird got the word she could play basketball.

The limitations were small. She lost a little flexibility in her back, but Bird was free to hit the court two months earlier than expected.

“I was so happy,” Bird said. “I know it’s because of where I went. The doctors did a great job, and delivered more than what we had planned.”

She still travels back to Portland for regular check-ups. Now those trips are spaced further apart.

On Bird’s last appointment, a public relations person for the hospital asked her if she had thought about submitting an essay to be a Shrine queen.

Then a year that felt like a dream became reality.

Bird and her Joseph teammates won the Class 1A state basketball title in Baker City.

Then a phone call. Bird would dawn a crown as the queen of the East.

“It caught me off guard,” Bird said. “All I could think about was the opportunity to represent the people that helped me.”

Like most people’s experience  with the Shrine game, her favorite memories came from visiting the hospital she walked through months before as a patient.

“It was weird to go in without needing to see the doctor,” Bird said. “I was able to show everyone where to go. All the people I met while being a patient were so happy for me.”

Bird and the football team spent a large portion of their time at the hospital playing with the children.

Made-up games involving water-filled medical gloves to tossing miniature footballs made the minutes fly by.

“It’s so humbling to spend time with the kids at the hospital,” Bird said. “Even after being a patient there, I didn’t know what to expect or how the football players would interact with the kids.

“It was great to see the football players take to the kids. They talked with them and signed footballs.”

Still, there is one scary moment left in Bird’s Shrine story — a halftime speech.

“I’m looking forward to it and I’m not all at the same time,” she said. “The stands will be full, and people watching on television.

“I’ll just do my best to do something I can’t do — put into words how thankful I am to the Shriners.”

Bird’s queen duties continue today when the team visits the Interpretive Center and downtown Baker City.

Pre-game activities begin at 2 p.m. Saturday, with kick-off scheduled for 3 p.m.