Students, parents raise $900 for Basehor second-grader facing surgery

Archive for Wednesday, January 11, 2012

January 11, 2012

Students and parents at Basehor Elementary School and Basehor Intermediate School raised about $900 last week for the family of a BES student who will undergo surgery in Boston on Thursday to treat a rare brain condition.

Jackson Oberndorfer, a second-grader at BES, was diagnosed in December with Moyamoya, a disease that causes narrowing of blood vessels in the brain and has led to several strokes. The only treatment is surgery.

When members of the student council at BES/BIS returned from winter break Wednesday and found out about Jackson's surgery, they decided to have a hat day event the next day to raise money for his family, sponsor Jessica Schultz said. By the end of the day Wednesday, they had passed out notes telling students they could donate a dollar for the right to wear a hat on Thursday.

The event raised about $600 between the two buildings, Schultz said, and the schools' parent-teacher organization, the Basehor Bluejay Team, contributed about $300.

The schools' staff are raising money for the family this week, and other fundraisers for the family are taking place around the district, as well.

Jackson's family has created a page on the website CaringBridge.org that contains more information about the surgery (the site requires the creation of a free log-in).