THUNDER BAY - It was a sea of blue at two Thunder Bay public schools, as students were angels for a day in support of a fellow classmate.
As part of International Angelman’s Awareness Day, students at Kingsway Public School and Hyde Park Public School wore blue and were treated to persian’s with blue icing to support their fellow student, Zoey.
“It is amazing,” said Amanda MacDonald, Zoey’s mother. “The whole thing with the Persians, the staff, and the kids and the way they treat Zoey is absolutely amazing. It’s heartwarming.”
Zoey, now six-years-old and in grade 1 at Hyde Park, was born with Angelman’s Syndrome, a neuro-genetic disorder that causes developmental delay, lack of speech, seizures, and walking and balance issues. It affects one in every 15,000 live births and requires life-long care.
“The average six year old will be running, laughing, conversations, where Zoey is just a little bit more behind with that,” MacDonald said. “Some of them walk, some of them don’t. Zoey is doing extremely well with walking. She is now walking holding one hand.”
MacDonald added that kids with Angelman’s Syndrome have a very happy demeanor, which was clearly evidenced by the big smile on Zoey’s face.
And she had a lot to smile about, as her fellow classmates sold more than 700 persians with special blue icing this year in support of the Canadian Association for Angelman’s Awareness.
“Every year it has increased greatly,” MacDonald said. “There is more support out there and more people are wanting to help by purchasing and out of town families are purchasing.”
The fundraiser is in its third year and last year it sold 200 persians. MacDonld, who also sold more than 350 herself, kept wanting to raise her goal.
“I originally set a goal to sell 150 persians,” she said. “Once I hit the 150, I said let’s see if I can do 200. I hit that goal, and I went up to 250. By the time I woke up Tuesday morning, I was at 350 persians, so it had doubled over night.”
“Each year is just seems to keep growing and growing,” MacDonald continued. “The support is overwhelming.”
