thedrifter
03-24-07, 07:42 AM
Marines help girl recovering from surgery
By MARTIN KIDSTON
(Helena) Independent Record Saturday, March 24, 2007
EAST HELENA, Mont. - She's a normal looking girl with light brown hair, eyes that shine, and a smile that's both shy and curious.
Her room is a mess and her collection of stamps lies scattered on a table. She loves teddy bears the most, her toy-box overflows with coloring books, and her brothers provide good company, at least some of the time.
Kimberly Best is a normal girl, until you notice the small plastic bag she carries at her side, and the long plastic tube running up her shirt, into her abdomen, and connecting to her bladder.
The bag takes the strain off her kidney, which functions at 10 percent. She has just one kidney - the other has been missing all her life.
"Her one kidney has slowly gotten weaker and weaker," said Nita Best, Kimberly's mother. "Her kidney has done all it can."
And that's where Kimberly's story begins - sort of. There's the part about her 300 hospital visits, and the 50 surgeries she's had to endure.
There's the part about her fear, and how the doctors couldn't distinguish her sex when she was born.
There's the part about her pastor, too, who helps raise her spirits - he tells Kimberly that God is on her side.
A sixth-grader at East Valley Middle School, Kimberly, along with her parents, are placing all their hope on a visit to the Children's Hospital in Seattle this May, where she's scheduled for bladder surgery.
Kimberly, 11, needs the surgery before she can get a new kidney - that is, if a kidney can be found in time. Members of the Four Square Baptist Church are taking tests to see if a match can be found.
But the race is on against time.
"This is a very serious surgery and the chance of her kidney shutting down is high," said Nita. The reality of her own words brings tears to her eyes. She clutches her daughter's little hand. "If we don't have a kidney to put in at that time, we will lose her."
A group of Marines from the Helena detachment of the Marine Corps League visited Kimberly's home on Wednesday. They passed her a $500 check and a gold coin, vowing to do everything possible to raise money and see that she gets the help she needs.
"You can carry that coin with you and remember the friends you have here," said Jim Heffernan, who served in the Marines during the Korean War. "On the back it says 'Semper Fi.' That's what we are - we're always faithful. We don't like to see defeat, and we won't give up."
The visit by Marines was only fitting. Kimberly's father, Pete, was a Marine who served in the first Gulf War. His dress-blues picture hangs on the wall, not far from Kimberly's own picture - her as a little girl with bouncing blonde curls and a soft brown bear.
Nita blames the war for Kimberly's health problems, at least in part. Not only was Kimberly born with just one kidney, she also had "Tracheoesophageal fistula," or TEF.
As a fetus grows and the organs develop, the trachea and esophagus begin as a single tube. Four to eight weeks after conception, a wall forms between the esophagus and trachea, separating the two vital tubes.
But if that wall fails to properly form, TEF can occur. Food goes into the lungs. Air into the stomach. And that's what happened to Kimberly.
Her mother suspects something from the war infected Pete, although there's no way to prove it.
"I want to know what's what with her," Nita said. "I've done a lot of research on this, and of all the children born with abnormalities to servicemen from the Gulf War, 98 percent of them have TEF."
Kimberly grabs the plastic bag and races to her room. She pushes open her bedroom door and giggles when she looks inside. She shows off her coloring books and a picture that reads, "Glamour Girl is totally in tune!"
Kimberly spends most of her time drawing, or sitting in a wheelchair. Other activities leave her fatigued.
But today she's full of giggles and smiles, though her smile does look cautious. Standing around her, the Marines show her their battle scars, hoping to make her feel better.
Kimberly has them beat. She lifts her shirt, revealing a torso crisscrossed with foot-long scars - dozens of them. She's practically lived her whole life in a hospital, her mother says.
Seeing it - even Marines can cry.
"We could take this on statewide, not only for Kimberly, but for all kids with a debilitating problem," said Bill Leary, commandant of the local Marine Corps League. "Someone's got to breach it, and in our case, it's got to be the Marines. As far as we're concerned, Kimberly is our girl."
The local Marine Corps League has opened an account in Kimberly's name at the American Federal Savings Bank in Helena. Call 406-475-0030, or 406-458-6256 to help.
The group is hoping to raise money to help Kimberly's family offset expenses incurred during their trips to Seattle. They wouldn't mind finding a kidney or two, either.
"We've never met you before, but we care about children," Heffernan told Kimberly, kneeling at her feet. "We're going to try to help you out, so you don't have to worry about the little things.
Ellie
By MARTIN KIDSTON
(Helena) Independent Record Saturday, March 24, 2007
EAST HELENA, Mont. - She's a normal looking girl with light brown hair, eyes that shine, and a smile that's both shy and curious.
Her room is a mess and her collection of stamps lies scattered on a table. She loves teddy bears the most, her toy-box overflows with coloring books, and her brothers provide good company, at least some of the time.
Kimberly Best is a normal girl, until you notice the small plastic bag she carries at her side, and the long plastic tube running up her shirt, into her abdomen, and connecting to her bladder.
The bag takes the strain off her kidney, which functions at 10 percent. She has just one kidney - the other has been missing all her life.
"Her one kidney has slowly gotten weaker and weaker," said Nita Best, Kimberly's mother. "Her kidney has done all it can."
And that's where Kimberly's story begins - sort of. There's the part about her 300 hospital visits, and the 50 surgeries she's had to endure.
There's the part about her fear, and how the doctors couldn't distinguish her sex when she was born.
There's the part about her pastor, too, who helps raise her spirits - he tells Kimberly that God is on her side.
A sixth-grader at East Valley Middle School, Kimberly, along with her parents, are placing all their hope on a visit to the Children's Hospital in Seattle this May, where she's scheduled for bladder surgery.
Kimberly, 11, needs the surgery before she can get a new kidney - that is, if a kidney can be found in time. Members of the Four Square Baptist Church are taking tests to see if a match can be found.
But the race is on against time.
"This is a very serious surgery and the chance of her kidney shutting down is high," said Nita. The reality of her own words brings tears to her eyes. She clutches her daughter's little hand. "If we don't have a kidney to put in at that time, we will lose her."
A group of Marines from the Helena detachment of the Marine Corps League visited Kimberly's home on Wednesday. They passed her a $500 check and a gold coin, vowing to do everything possible to raise money and see that she gets the help she needs.
"You can carry that coin with you and remember the friends you have here," said Jim Heffernan, who served in the Marines during the Korean War. "On the back it says 'Semper Fi.' That's what we are - we're always faithful. We don't like to see defeat, and we won't give up."
The visit by Marines was only fitting. Kimberly's father, Pete, was a Marine who served in the first Gulf War. His dress-blues picture hangs on the wall, not far from Kimberly's own picture - her as a little girl with bouncing blonde curls and a soft brown bear.
Nita blames the war for Kimberly's health problems, at least in part. Not only was Kimberly born with just one kidney, she also had "Tracheoesophageal fistula," or TEF.
As a fetus grows and the organs develop, the trachea and esophagus begin as a single tube. Four to eight weeks after conception, a wall forms between the esophagus and trachea, separating the two vital tubes.
But if that wall fails to properly form, TEF can occur. Food goes into the lungs. Air into the stomach. And that's what happened to Kimberly.
Her mother suspects something from the war infected Pete, although there's no way to prove it.
"I want to know what's what with her," Nita said. "I've done a lot of research on this, and of all the children born with abnormalities to servicemen from the Gulf War, 98 percent of them have TEF."
Kimberly grabs the plastic bag and races to her room. She pushes open her bedroom door and giggles when she looks inside. She shows off her coloring books and a picture that reads, "Glamour Girl is totally in tune!"
Kimberly spends most of her time drawing, or sitting in a wheelchair. Other activities leave her fatigued.
But today she's full of giggles and smiles, though her smile does look cautious. Standing around her, the Marines show her their battle scars, hoping to make her feel better.
Kimberly has them beat. She lifts her shirt, revealing a torso crisscrossed with foot-long scars - dozens of them. She's practically lived her whole life in a hospital, her mother says.
Seeing it - even Marines can cry.
"We could take this on statewide, not only for Kimberly, but for all kids with a debilitating problem," said Bill Leary, commandant of the local Marine Corps League. "Someone's got to breach it, and in our case, it's got to be the Marines. As far as we're concerned, Kimberly is our girl."
The local Marine Corps League has opened an account in Kimberly's name at the American Federal Savings Bank in Helena. Call 406-475-0030, or 406-458-6256 to help.
The group is hoping to raise money to help Kimberly's family offset expenses incurred during their trips to Seattle. They wouldn't mind finding a kidney or two, either.
"We've never met you before, but we care about children," Heffernan told Kimberly, kneeling at her feet. "We're going to try to help you out, so you don't have to worry about the little things.
Ellie