By Kyle LoJacono
Stacey Jenkins was momentarily at a loss for words when she heard the amount of money raised during the Kick-It for Kaitlyn event at Oakstead Elementary on Feb. 14.
“We raised $11,400,” said an excited Kristin Smith, a second-grade teacher at the Land O’ Lakes school. “Our goal was $2,500.”
The money was donated in one week by the 1,040 students who attend Oakstead and was donated to the CureSearch for Children’s Cancer. The cause was close to the kids and faculty because the disease claimed one of their own last Halloween.
Kaitlyn Jenkins, Stacey’s daughter, should have been a third-grader at Oakstead this year, but she was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer on Dec. 14, 2010. She fought the disease for 10 months.
“My son (Justin) went here prior to Kaitlyn, and they’ve always had the support of the parents,” Stacey said. “Every fundraiser has been big. I would never have expected that number to reach $11,400 in a week’s time. It’s really amazing, but when they told me the goal was $2,500 I knew then they’d blow right by it. … It’s just nice to know that even though she’s gone, people are willing to help.
“The school did a fundraiser last year called Coins for Kaitlyn, which helped us stay home to be with her for that year dedicating our time to being with her,” Stacey continued.
Stacey said the cancer intertwined with Kaitlyn’s brainstem, making it inoperable and also ruling out chemotherapy.
“She did really great there for a while,” Stacey said. “In June we started seeing the symptoms come back, which we expected because this form of cancer they don’t have any childhood survivors of it. We were told that without treatment she’d have three months and maybe six months more with treatment and she actually made it 10 months.”
Smith, who was one of Kaitlyn’s teachers last year, said the idea for the event came after walk to fight cancer last year.
“We did a walk with Kaitlyn and her family and shortly after that CureSearch contacted us,” Smith said. “They asked us if we wanted to do it, we talked with our principal and Kaitlyn’s family, and everyone thought it would be a great thing to do.”
Smith said Oakstead does a yearly service project, but this one hit closer to home.
“They’ve made the connection of kids helping kids, so it’s much more meaningful to them,” Smith said. “The kickball is an extra incentive, and we’ve never had something like that before. We have a very competitive group here. The two classes from each grade level that raised the most money got to play against each other.”
Valentine’s Day was picked as the date for the event because it was one of Kaitlyn’s favorite holidays. It was also the last day she had radiation therapy last year and the last time she visited her friends at Oakstead.
“Every kid in the school gave her a Valentine’s Day card when she came back last year,” Stacey said. “We had over 1,000 valentines and Kaitlyn read them all.”
Marcelo Carrioni, one of Kaitlyn’s friends since kindergarten, remembers another big gift they gave Kaitlyn last Valentine’s Day.
“When she came back last year we gave her a big red dog,” Carrioni said. “It was a stuffed animal.”
Smith added, “We all hugged it and gave her the dog because we wanted her to feel our love, so whenever she couldn’t be with us she could hug it and know we were thinking about her.”
Carrioni was in one of the two classes that got to play in the third-grade kickball game.
“It’s very exciting to be playing kickball for my best friend and knowing this can help other kids who get cancer,” Carrioni said. He then added, “(Kaitlyn) was really funny all the time. She loved animals. You’re never going to find a girl who loves horses that much.”
Also playing in the third-grade game was Kaitlyn’s friend since kindergarten Gylenmees Oliva.
“(Kaitlyn) was a really good friend. We talked about everything,” Oliva said. She then added, “It makes me happy because we tried our best to help her and she’s in a better place now.”
