Jack was born with a life-threatening heart rhythm condition, Cathecholaminergic Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia, CPVT for short. It is a potentially fatal, adrenalin-induced arrhythmia that for Jack is currently well controlled with medication and a pacemaker. Jack is supposed to avoid stress, exercise and emotion, easier said than done. The last eighteen years have been less than a smooth ride, but they have taught me so much and have brought me to where I am today. Jack takes medication twice a day that causes him to feel tired and cold. Before we were able to find a medication regimen that worked, CPVT caused Jack’s heart to stop multiple times resulting in him passing out and causing a lack of oxygen to his brain. He is currently 18 but cognitively and socially is equivalent to an average 12 year old. He is not able to play most sports and in elementary school did not have many friends. Jack was the kid who would sit alone … [Read more...]

Another enjoyable and successful week of Mini-Milers!  This week thirteen children participate, including five who were attending for the first time and fourteen mentors.  Partnering with our participants and donating their time on a Saturday were an assortment of UVM and high school students, including six from the UVM Women's Hockey Team.  Sarah Kelly, Sammy Kolowrat,  Taylor Willard, Alyssa Gorecki,  Rachel Khaulof, and Daria O'Neill, and , teammates of Kayla's via Team Impact, were a great help, like the other volunteers, in assisting the special needs child they were paired with.   This session, following our greeting we all went around and pretended to be different animals.  The idea is that some animals run slow and some really fast.  Watching the children go as slow as a turtle and then run like a lion was encouraging and especially entertaining as the mentors got into the animal character.  As an incentive for the … [Read more...]

The adaptive Mini-milers program has begun!  Saturday we had eight children ages 7-13 with special needs and nine incredible mentors from South Burlington High School and Rice Memorial High School participate in Kayla's Directory's first program.  The session began with a group stretch and was followed by breaking into stations; running/walking around track, an obstacle course, and tic-tac-toe.  It closed with a relay race, group stretch and a healthy snack (along with a discussion regarding other types of healthy snacks we could have in the future). How did it go?  It was a resounding success.  Last week Run Vermont actually closed registration for the program because we had reached our cap of fifteen children signing up.  I capped participation because I felt that it was critical that each child registered to be paired with a mentor in order to make sure they are engaging in activities, having a fun time, and are being safe and I … [Read more...]

I knew creating Kayla's Directory would be an endeavor and less than six months in, it has been even more demanding, challenging, sometimes frustrating, yet always exciting and very rewarding than I ever imagined.  It has been more than a full time job for someone who already is employed and has a family, including a child with special needs.  Building, maintaining and growing Kayla's Directory appropriately requires not only more time than I alone can commit but also an assortment of skills and experience that I do not always have.  Consequently, I rely on a number of other people to assist me and I cannot thank them enough.  Friends, family, associates and sometimes people who were complete strangers have helped me with such things as editing, networking and marketing to say nothing of navigating legal and technical issues.  Today I would like to bring attention to one of the latest additions to this team of volunteers - Madi … [Read more...]

Kayla’s Directory is currently seeking to raise it's first $500.00 to help support the "adaptive" Ready.Set.Run-Mini-Milers Program. This 6-week program is specifically designed to teach children with special needs to be active, to learn about healthy eating and to encourage giving back to their community. The money that is raised will be used to ensure scholarships for children, healthy snacks, and to support the final race at Catamount Outdoor Family Center. For more information about Mini-milers, please visit: http://www.runvermont.org/youth/ready-set-run/. To make a donation please visit  http://www.kaylasdirectory.org and hit the Donate button. Any amount will be greatly appreciated. … [Read more...]