Nouveau Arcade - Choose Your Fighter [B&W] Shirt

For each shirt sold - 20% will be donated to the Shriners Hospitals For Children.

Samantha Tokita was the inspiration behind the track as well as the artwork on the shirt.

I was raised with the Shriner’s hospital - my first surgery was with them at 9 months old for a Syme amputation. My condition is congenital and called fibular hemmimelia, which was an extremely rare and difficult to understand condition at the time. To this day, no one knows what causes it. Both of my parents were in the Air Force and in their mid-twenties when they had me, and especially at that time, covering the costs necessary for me to have a healthy life would have drained them of everything they had and more.

The mission of the Shriner’s Hospital for Children is to provide the highest quality care to children with special healthcare needs at no cost to the family - and that’s exactly what they did for us for the first 18 years of my life.

The Shriner’s Hospitals are located in some states, but not all. My mother and father drove me to the nearest facility for my appointments, and it was often at least one state away from where we lived. For families that don’t have the ability to transport themselves and their children, the Shriner’s also offers van services to ensure they really are able to provide care to any child.

I’ve spent most of my teenage and adult years contributing to fundraising events for the Shriner’s when I can, but nothing I do will ever come close to making up for what they’ve done for myself and my family. They gave me a childhood just like all of my peers - I could run, jump, climb, dance, etc because of the prosthetic devices and surgeries I had under their care. They gifted me mobility.

Now, at 26 years old, I’m a 3-year muaythai practitioner and will be able to officially call myself a fighter on November 12th after participating in my first muaythai smoker. Though other amputees have fought before, I’m believed to be the first female amputee to ever step into the ring.

Our world is designed around able-bodied individuals. I owe my life to this organization. Without them I would have encountered infinitely more obstacles than I face today. Children all over the world deserve accessibility, and the Shriner’s has been making space for them for a long, long time. - Samantha