Nine-Year-Old Lebanon Girl Has Dream Experience: Designing Her Own Custom Nike Shoe

Sophia shows the tennis shoe she designed with Nike shoe designers in the Nike Freestyle program. Photos courtesy of OHSU Doernbecher and Nike

Despite being diagnosed with a cancer that ultimately took one of her legs, one of Lebanon’s own young girls perseveres with a resilience that can now be witnessed on a Nike shoe as it flashes past in a sprint.

For an active young family, any injury or illness can be a setback. But for 9-year-old Sophia Jenkins and her family, their lives took a drastic turn in 2021 when a persistent pain in her leg…