Hawk kids send vibes to classmate

DONNELLSON – A bunch of screaming elementary kids were yelling and jumping up and down on the Central Lee football field Wednesday as Superintendent Dr. Andy Crozier just sat and watched.
It’s exactly what he should’ve done, as these kids were sending a message to one of their own.
Central Lee Elementary Principal Heather Fuger organized the event with children from preK through 4th grade lined up on the field to wave to Aiden Washburn, a 4th grader at the school who was undergoing a heart procedure. The energy from the field most likely found its way, even if by video, to the Stead Family Children’s Hospital on the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics campus in Iowa City.
Students were allowed to wear hats at school that day for $1 donation to Washburn’s family. They were also encouraged to wear Black and Gold as Washburn is an Iowa Hawkeye fan and was even the Kid’s Captain for a game last year.
The district raised more than $3,000 for the Washburn family with other contributions that came in Wednesday. Washburn has been what is called a “Heart Warrior” since birth.
“He is undergoing surgery today to put in a heart pump and we wanted to give him all the positive energy we could for that,” Fuger said.
“We did a school spirit event last year to build him up and we wanted to take the opportunity to send good vibes from here to there. He’s got relatives and friends here and we just wanted to take another chance to send him some love."
The parents are having to take time away from work for what is anticipated to be an extended recovery, so the district wanted to help raise funds for the family’s needs.
“With everything going on, we wanted to take the opportunity to say to them that we are lifting them up in good spirit,” she said.
With the Central Lee football game Friday night in West Liberty, school officials there reached out to Fuger about wanting to add to the energy around Washburn.
Fuger said one of her posts about Aiden reached the Athletic Director at West Liberty who contacted her.
“My post ended up getting shared enough that the West Liberty High School AD contacted us today and they are going to do a concerted wave at the Friday night football game. So I’m going to go film that wave. It’s so cool. Just with all the emotions we have right now about things we disagree on, no one disagrees about this.”
She said anyone who would like to contribute to the Washburn’s cause can do so through the Central Lee School District.
“If anyone wants to do something like that, they can send it here and we will absolutely make sure it gets to them.”
Children lined up vertically facing the home stands and waved to the stands where a video and photos were being taken and those will be sent to the family for Aiden following his procedure Wednesday.
According to the University of Iowa's Kid Captain page, Washburn has already undergone several life-saving open-heart surgeries. His parents Josie and Ryan were first referred to University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital after prenatal tests detected a heart abnormality. After a 23-week ultrasound and fetal echocardiogram — a specialized test performed during pregnancy to evaluate an unborn baby’s heart — Aiden was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. It's a rare congenital heart defect in which the left side of the heart is extremely underdeveloped and cannot properly pump blood to the body. Aiden also was born with only one functioning kidney.