Community rallies after youth's diagnosis

CLARK FORK — His friends noticed during the fall football season when Haden Kistler, a sixth grader at Hope Elementary School started complaining about headaches.

But because it was his first season as a shoulder-pad wearing player, something Haden had looked forward to since his early days playing flag football at Hope Elementary, he didn’t let the headaches take a front seat to the gridiron.

“He never took it that seriously,” Niko Icardo, a fellow classmate and friend, said.

The headaches, however, got worse.

“Toward the end of the season he started getting big headaches,” Niko said. “He had to sit down sometimes.”

Haden’s mom, Cheryl Meadows, thought her son needed glasses and he got a prescription, but it didn’t help.

Soon, her son’s headaches were so bad that they kept the 11-year-old from school.

During the holidays, with her son complaining about a crushing headache, Meadows rushed Haden to Bonner General Hospital. He was transported to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and Children’s Hospital in Spokane where two brain tumors were removed during an emergency surgery, Christie Anderson said.

Anderson, whose son is one of Haden’s pals, is among several Clark Fork women who have organized a benefit to help Meadows, a single mother, defray medical and weekly travel expenses to and from Seattle Children’s Hospital where Haden undergoes radiation treatments.

Every Saturday morning she and a handful of other volunteers meet at the Cabinet Mountain Bar and Grill along Clark Fork’s main east-west route and ask “well, what have we got?”

The answer: A lot.

So far, regional businesses including Silverwood, Cabela’s and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe have donated gift packages or items that will be part of an auction and benefit dinner, March 6, at 3 p.m. at the Clark Fork High School. Local business have pledged hand-crafted wooden bars and stools, loads of gravel and rock, knife sets, a scenic airplane ride, a half of beef and many craft and gift items, Clark Fork resident Kathleen McGee said.

McGee who operates a wild animal shelter in Clark Fork knows Haden as a caring and responsible young man.

“He is not one of those kids who stays behind the computer,” McGee said.

He and some friends offered to donate their time at the shelter, she said.

“They dug post holes for two enclosures with shovels and post hole diggers,” she said. “They unrolled wire and did some general cleaning.”

Darlene Stevens, another organizer whose son is Haden’s friend, said the 11-year-old remains upbeat despite his illness.

“He is very funny,” Stevens said. “He likes to crack jokes. He has nothing bad to say about his sickness. He’s not letting this get him down.”

The radiation treatment caused Haden to lose his hair. In a Web site that the family uses to stay in touch with neighbors and friends while they are in Seattle, Meadows writes that her son has taken his treatment in stride.

“Haden started losing his hair last Friday,” his mother wrote in a Feb. 3 entry. “He lost some and said, ‘It’s really not that big of a deal to me, Mom.’ Boy, that was like music to my ears!”

 In another entry, she writes, “Yet another week in Seattle.  We had a meeting with Haden’s doctor Monday and asked how Haden was doing with his radiation. He told me that Haden was definitely above average in how he’s handling it.”

Sherri Hatley, Hope Elementary School principal, has watched Haden’s progress since he arrived at the school as a second grader.

“He’s one of those kids that always has a smile,” Hatley said. “It’s infectious.”

She describes Haden as a child who loves to be outside, and loves football.

“He’s mellow,” she said. “He’s not a hyper kid. But when he’s outside he is either playing football or one-man dodgeball. He is running the whole time at recess.”

Despite being in the hospital and unable to attend school, she said, he diligently works on his homework while he is in the hospital. Last quarter he made the school’s honor roll.

“Little kids look up to him,” she said. “He’s one of those kids that always gets picked first or second. He is very well liked by kids and adults.”

Anderson said that the volunteers’ efforts to raise money for Haden and his mother won’t end with the March 6 benefit that includes a chili feed.

The group has planned a dance in the months ahead.

“Being a single mom, we’re trying to help her handle this as best as we can,” she said. “We don’t want her to worry about finances.”

For updates on Haden, or to read the family’s journal, visit www.caringbridge.org/visit/hadenkistler/journal.

Anyone who wants to donate, or volunteer their time or services, call Darlene Stevens at (208) 266-1290, or Christie Anderson at (208) 266-0455.