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Wednesday, April 20, 2005
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Pillager second-grader has personal reason to raise money for heart association
Staff Writer PILLAGER -- Pillager Elementary School second-grader Brady Bordwell is a normal 8-year-old boy.
He loves to play basketball and other sports and he wishes he was bigger. Brady said he is the shortest student in his class at 48 inches tall.
Brady is physically small for his age partially because he has cardiomyopathy, a heart disease in which the heart muscle becomes inflamed. His heart cavity is enlarged and stretched, and the heart is weak and doesn't pump normally.
Brady does not let his heart condition get in his way. This year he raised $550 for the American Heart Association. Brady along with his parents, Lynne and Brian Bordwell of Pillager, and two siblings, Brennen, 5, and Lauren, 13 months, wanted to raise awareness of heart disease in children this year.
The family, with support from students at Pillager Elementary School, raised $3,274 in the Jump Rope for Heart fund-raiser and another $1,050 in the Hoops for Heart fund-raiser.
"I didn't think we'd raise very much money," said Brady. "I was like, 'Wow.'"
Brady said he had to do a lot of jumping in his physical education class for Jump Rope for Heart. He said he got tired, but he got a water break.
Penny Grimsley, first- through sixth-grade physical education teacher who helped coordinate Jump Rope for Heart, had all her students jump rope for as long as they could in their 25-minute physical education classes. Students also learned about the importance of the heart and how to keep it healthy.
Grimsley said each student was able to jump for a person with a heart condition or in memory of someone who died from a heart problem.
Grimsley said the school does Jump Rope for Heart every year, and this year the school raised the most money ever.
Brady said it was pretty neat to see his classmates support him by jumping rope for him or for other people with a heart condition.
Brady is not the only person in his family to have cardiomyopathy. His sister, Lauren, also has the heart disease.
Lynne Bordwell, a special education teacher at Pillager High School, said the heart disease is genetic and the family is investigating its family history to find the gene's source.
"Many people can live with this disease and they don't know they have it," said Bordwell. "Sometimes when people die suddenly on a court (such as on a basketball court), this is what they have."
The Bordwells learned Brady had a heart disease when he was 6 months old. Bordwell said her son stopped eating and he had a cold that would not go away. Brady was congested, he sweat a lot at night and his lips sometimes turned blue.
Brady was tested for pneumonia and had an X-ray taken. That's when the doctor told the Bordwells that Brady had cardiomyopathy.
"It was very frightening," said Bordwell. "We didn't know what they were talking about. It was a big life change."
Bordwell said Brady was put on extensive medications and he may have to take them his whole life. Brady first took eight pills a day and now takes five pills in the morning with breakfast and one pill before bed. Lauren, who was diagnosed with the heart disease when she was 10 months old, takes 11 pills a day.
Giving the medications is one of the biggest challenges for the Bordwells. Bordwell said people usually have a China cabinet in their homes, and at their house their China cabinet is their medicine cabinet.
"We have it down to a science," Bordwell said about giving Brady his medications. "We have to get down a system for Lauren's medications."
Bordwell said the family has to be extra careful with germs and getting sick. She said the children need to have a flu shot, and washing hands at their house is crucial.
"A flu virus would be devastating (for Brady and Lauren)," said Bordwell.
Bordwell said Brady is competitive, but he can only play sports for fun. She said he is slower than other children and if he is running he may have to stop to catch his breath. Bordwell said Brady is smaller than other children because his heart works extra hard so he burns more calories.
Bordwell said the family wanted to make this year's donation to the American Heart Association count so they all pitched in to raise money. Bordwell said more than 40,000 children are diagnosed with heart disease every year.
"It's crucial that organizations like the American Heart Association help out with funding research so that our children may see a cure for their disease in their lifetime," said Bordwell. "We are thankful to all those who donated to help this cause."
Brady plans to donate the prizes he will win from the Jump Rope for Heart fund-raiser to the Children's Cardiomyopathy Foundation.
JENNIFER STOCKINGER can be reached at jennifer.stockinger@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5851.
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