Kindergartner walks tall, fights CF
Published 10:02 am Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Kylie Nienow drops the first coins into a Coins for Cystic Fibrosis donation bucket during a Woodson Kindergarten Center assembly Monday. Nienow and her family will walk in a cystic fibrosis fundraiser in May. -- Trey Mewes/trey/mewes@austindailyherald.com
Kylie Nienow came to kindergarten class a little scared on Monday. She was going to help in a presentation about cystic fibrosis, a disease she knows all too well.
“She was very scared and very nervous,” said her mom, Stephanie Buhr. “I was nervous that she wouldn’t want to (demonstrate some of her equipment) but she did great.”
Woodson Kindergartner Kylie Nienow shows off her vest, which helps her clear her lungs. Nienow has cystic fibrosis and Woodson Kindergarten Center students are raising money for her Walk for Cystic Fibrosis fundraiser. -- Trey Mewes/trey.mewes@austindailyherald.com
Kylie was all smiles when she, her mom, dad and grandma helped Woodson Kindergarten Center Principal Jean McDermott talk to Woodson students Monday as part of Woodson’s kick-off to a fundraiser for cystic fibrosis. Kylie has cystic fibrosis, a disease which causes thick mucus buildup in a person’s lungs and digestive tract.
Woodson students will be raising money for Coins for Cystic Fibrosis, which they will give to Kylie’s family when they participate in the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s annual GREAT STRIDES National Walk Event.
“We’re so excited,” Buhr said. “(The presentation) was fantastic.”
The fundraiser started after Buhr spoke with McDermott about Kylie last month and asked if the school wanted to help Kylie raise money to give to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, which is pursuing a cure for the disease. McDermott had seen previous classes help students in similar ways.
“Last year we had a little girl with cancer,” McDermott said. “It’s good when there’s an opportunity to make it real. It gets them off on the right foot as far as taking care of each other and how the world is bigger than themselves.”
Woodson Kindergarten Center Principal Jean McDermott reads a book about cystic fibrosis to kindergartners during an assembly Monday afternoon.
Kylie didn’t seem shy at all when she showed how some of the equipment she uses every day. She smiled and waved to her friends, and demonstrated how she puts on her nebulizer, a mask which gives her medicine. She uses her nebulizer twice a day, and takes four pills a day for her lungs as well.
She even showed off her vest, which is connected to a machine that shakes her body, which helps get rid of the mucus built up in her lungs. She does this twice a day while sitting in a chair.
“It feels funny,” she said smiling and pretending to shake with the machine.
Woodson students hope to fill 16 ice cream buckets with coins to give Kylie and her family.
