Kindergartner Tabby Karr is Cook Elementary Fine Arts Magnet School”s jump rope queen, even if she can”t skip along with her classmates during a physical education unit on heart health.
Karr was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension in September 2009, a condition in which her under-developed lungs don”t provide adequate oxygen to her body, forcing her heart to work twice as hard. The stress caused her heart to enlarge and develop a hole between its chambers.
To provide the oxygen 6-year-old Tabby needs to live a healthy life, she must remain constantly attached to a portable oxygen tank; the tubes provide another obstacle to jumping rope with her friends.
But come March 26, Tabby will be honored as queen of Cook”s Jump Rope For Heart Heroes Ball.
Jump Rope For Heart is an American Heart Association program which provides physical education curricula for elementary students to learn about heart health. At the same time, a fundraising component will get kids out in the community raising donations for the AHA.
The Jump Rope Heroes Ball will get every student who raises $50 or more out of class for a bit, and the top earners will earn “thank you gifts” from the AHA. The student who raises the most money will go home with a new bicycle.
Cook PE teacher Amy Martin hopes the school can raise $6,000 for the AHA. And since the kids have a constant reminder in Tabby of what they”re working for, the money will be donated in Tabby”s honor.
“It”s meant so much to Tabby because she knows she”s a part of something,” said Danny Karr, Tabby”s adoptive grandfather, of the Jump Rope for Heart program and fundraiser. “Other than in our home and around immediate family, she”s never been special. So it”s just unreal to her.”
There”s no way to know how the AHA will spend the money raised at Cook, but Martin hopes it will go toward research that could extend the tentative 10-year prognosis doctors have given Tabby. Barring medical advancements, she”ll eventually need rare heart and lung transplants.
“All we have is hope,” says Pam Karr, Tabby”s adoptive grandmother.
Tabby”s story is one of wild ups and downs. Born premature at 26 weeks, she came into the world weighing 14 ounces and promptly underwent two surgeries in the first two weeks of her life, followed by a year in intensive care.
Born to Danny”s adopted son and his girlfriend, Tabby”s rough start continued. At almost 2 years old she weighed just 11 pounds. She didn”t begin walking until she was 27 months.
When the state attempted to take Tabby from her mother, Danny and Pam stepped up and volunteered to adopt her.
Life improved for Tabby. She enjoyed five years without major complications until last year when her fingertips began to turn blue.
“You could tell the oxygen wasn”t going right. A heart specialist from Jackson came up and did a sonogram on the heart and we weren”t in there five minutes before they diagnosed exactly what it was. Then we went to Birmingham and they confirmed it,” said Danny.
“We”ve been there a lot,” adds Pam, solemnly reflecting on countless road trips, hotel stays and doctor visits in Alabama.
But don”t cry for Tabby. Danny and Pam say the trips, the doctor visits and even the oxygen tank have done little to dim her near-constant smile — which currently lacks two front teeth.
“She”s not scared of anything. She is wide open all day long,” says Pam.
Danny theorizes Tabby has no problem with the plastic tubes constantly in her nose because she wore a similar mask for the first year of her life in the hospital.
“You don”t know what you remember from the first year of your life. It”s just like she was born with it. She feels natural in it,” he said.
And natural is how Tabby lives her life. She climbs on Danny while he”s watching television and plays castle. She recruits Pam to act out every character from her favorite cartoons. She stays on the computer when she”s inside. She plays in the dirt when she”s outside.
The only thing Tabby can”t do is what doctors have referred to as “coached” activities, or activities which require her to push her physical limits.
“Other than that, she”s good. You just keep an eye on her and don”t let her heart rate get up too high,” explains Danny. “And she”ll let you know. She”ll say ”My heart”s beeping. My heart”s beeping.””
Tabby will be as free as a 30-foot cord will allow this spring, so competitive soccer is out. That”s fine. Tabby doesn”t need sports to make friends.
“Tabby is a superstar here at Cook now,” says Martin. “We put her on our little in-house TV station (to promote Jump Rope For Heart). Now everywhere she goes in school everyone says, ”Hey, Tabby! It”s Tabby!” We had a fourth grade teacher during lunch have to tell her class, ”Would you please let Tabby eat?””
She”s equally popular in class. Everyone wants to help Tabby.
“You know how kids are. They just dote over her,” says Martin of Tabby”s classmates. “They call her little sister. That”s how Cook views her.”
But Tabby is perfectly capable of keeping up on her own. Her learning abilities haven”t dipped a bit through her recent struggles, so her teachers received special training to accommodate her special needs and allow her to remain in normal classes.
Luckily, those needs don”t extend far beyond her oxygen pump. The only medication Tabby is prescribed is Viagra, which was originally developed to open blood vessels and promote blood flow.
“We put her on that Viagra and her oxygen level went from 82 percent to 98 percent,” said Danny.
The costs for her care are kept in check thanks to Danny”s military retiree health care. Also, because Tabby was born premature, she automatically qualified for Medicaid.
Coincidentally, when Danny joined the Air Force in 1973, he arranged a $150 deduction from his pay each month to go to the AHA.
The bulk of the direct cost to Tabby”s family is spent on the trips back and forth to Birmingham. Furthermore, Pam has struggled with her own health issues over recent years, which meant even more trips.
“It”s expensive to live in a hotel,” Danny says with a smile.
If the money raised at Cook can”t help Tabby, the Karrs hope it will help another family, possibly one less prepared to weather the storm, avoid the struggles they”ve faced.
Cook students will raise Jump Rope For Heart donations through March 24.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
