by Adam Kredo
Staff Writer, Washington Jewish Week
After major surgery, most 9-year-olds would merely take it easy. But not Elan Arnowitz: From the comfort of his Baltimore hospital bed, this youngster has decided “to go public.”
A fourth-grader at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, Elan has Perthes disease, a degenerative hip condition that causes immobility and leg pain. The only fix was a major form of hip surgery that took place at Baltimore’s Sinai Hospital. Though successful, the operation has had the Rockville youngster confined to a hospital bed since the start of November.
“Not many kids my age have been through what I’ve been through,” Elan said, referring not to his condition, but rather to his family’s decision to take his story and life online in the form of multiple Web sites, blogs and Internet forums.
After nearly two months of nonstop posting and updating to his site, Elan has become an Internet superstar of sorts, receiving nods from not only family members, but various celebrities and sports heroes as well.
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