'Students helping student'

Peninsula Elementary rallies to help fellow student get new motorized wheelchair

At the entrance to Peninsula Elementary, pieces of colored paper taped to the door show students' efforts to help one of their own.

The pieces of paper are part of a campaign called "Students helping student." They are mini pledge cards submitted by students at the school to help 11-year-old Tyler Hofstetter and his family raise $13,000 for a new motorized wheelchair.

One of the pledge cards reads: 'I raised my money/donation by chores.' Another student collected money by doing dishes, others by doing extra cleaning.

Inside a Life Skills class where Hofstetter is working on his problem solving skills, it is evident his 11-year-old body no longer physically fits into the wheelchair he has had since he was 2.

The armrests no longer come to his arms, but up to his thighs and his head comes above the head rest of the wheelchair.

"We could no longer put it off," Tyler's mother Tammy Roloff said.

After Roloff was turned down for financial assistance from the state to pay for the wheelchair, staff and students at Peninsula Elementary offered to help fund-raise.

In the past, the school has put together fund-raising campaigns such as "Nickels for New York" following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In 2003 the school's big toy playground burnt down and again students and staff rallied together to fund-raise $47,000 to replace it. Students collected the first $1,000 with the remaining money coming from community donations and an auction.

When Hurricane Katrina hit, the school didn't have a fund-raiser to raise money for victims.

"They were meant to do something with Tyler," Roloff said.

As of Nov. 14, Peninsula Elementary students have collected $263 towards Hofstetter's new wheelchair. A generous donation was presented earlier this month by Takata Moses Lake, Inc., (now called Inflation Systems, Inc.) an affiliate of the Takata Corporation, which makes automotive safety devices.

"This is a pretty compassionate place," said Peninsula Elementary principal Doug Luiten. "I think this whole community shares the idea of helping one another."

Just over a week ago at an assembly, students — with the help of the performing duo Cowboy Buck and Elizabeth — dedicated a song to Hofstetter.

The show of support from the school and community has been an overwhelming sign of gratitude for Roloff; a period of joy since her son got sick June 24, 1996. What appeared to be flu-like symptoms was later diagnosed as meningococcal meningitis which caused significant brain damage.

Meningococcal meningitis is an inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. Meningococcal disease strikes about 3,000 Americans each year, leading to death in approximately 10 to 15 percent of cases, which translates into 300 deaths annually. The disease can result in permanent brain damage, hearing loss, learning disability, limb amputation, kidney failure or death.

Hofstetter spent the next 61/2 months after he got sick in a Spokane hospital. The effects from the meningitis would mean the loss of both Tyler's legs, four fingers and part of his wrist on his right hand and his ring and index finger on his left.

In order to take care of her son, Roloff quit her job as a nurse's aide. She did not return to work for three years and eventually moved into the Ronald McDonald charity house, a nonprofit organization that provides a home to seriously ill children and their families.

Two years after being infected with meningococcal meningitis, Hofstetter began having severe behavioral problems which doctors have diagnosed as autism, a diagnosis that is difficult to confirm in Hofstetter's case due to health problems associated from the meningococcal meningitis.

Roloff hasn't heard her son say "mom" since the day he was flown to a Spokane hospital in 1996, although he can say one-word phrases like "puppy" and "daddy."

Tyler is making strides in his ability to write, his mother says, and on Dec. 8 will transition to junior high as a sixth-grader at Chief Moses Middle School.

"No matter what was thrown at him from the age of 2, he's done so much," Roloff said.

Hofstetter's current chair will be donated to another family who has a child in need of one.

"I don't want another family to have to go through that," Roloff said.