Gilbert 6th grader Zack Langford fights for his life with a smile on his face

Zack Langford has one of those smiles that will instantly melt you. It’s more of a grin really, but it’s permanently plastered to his face. Even when the conversation moves to tough times – the scariest of times, actually – his facial expression never changes. His bright blue eyes never turn dark, his freckled face never furrows, and his immaculately styled hair never tussles.

As the Gilbert Middle School sixth grader sits on a chair at his family’s dining room table, surrounded by his parents, Troy and Amanda, younger brother, Zander, and full-of-energy shih-poo dog, Zazu, he’s not shy talking about his favorite activities since his life was turned upside down. He enjoys riding dirt bikes, fishing, drawing, and playing video games. It’s clear he’s not afraid to talk about his ailment either. He knows his story well going back to his initial symptoms in late 2018, and he’s quick to point out that during one less than pleasant trip to the hospital he was forced to give 27 vials of blood for testing purposes.

He’s been through a lot in his 11 years of life, particularly the last 3½ since his diagnosis, but he shrugs it off like most children would a poor score on a math quiz.

“It’s just kind of normal for me, it’s part of me now,” Zack says with his elbows leaning on the table. “I’ve kind of accepted it.”

 

IN THE BEGINNING

The worry in the eyes of Troy and Amanda is ever-present. How could it not be? They’ve already endured the worst kind of devastation parents can face – the loss of a child – when their first-born, a daughter named Mikayla, passed away at the age of six more than six years before Zack was born.

“Mikayla was born with two different brain abnormalities,” Amanda says. “She was only given a month to live, but lived six years. We waited 6½ years after she died to have Zack, and other than having asthma, he was a healthy kiddo.”

That all changed in December of 2018 though. Just four months after the family moved from their longtime home in Kansas City to central Iowa, Zack was diagnosed with restrictive cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the muscles of a heart’s ventricles stiffen and are unable to fill with blood. It’s the rarest form of cardiomyopathy, and it commonly leads to progressive heart failure and the need for heart transplant.

There were no symptoms prior to the family’s move to Iowa, and doctors still can’t give an answer to the family’s No. 1 question: Why? One day, Zack was a happy and healthy second-grade boy excited to go to a friend’s birthday party. The next day, the Langford family was staring at an unknown future.

“We went to a birthday party that day, but I was tired, I had no energy, and I didn’t feel the best,” Zack remembers. “We went to Target and Hobby Lobby, and in Hobby Lobby I got dizzy, nauseous, and had blurred vision.”

After a battery of tests at numerous hospitals – including an electrocardiogram, an echocardiogram, a cardiac catheterization, and an MRI, just to name a few – the family was given Zack’s diagnosis at the University of Iowa Hospitals.

And just like that, Zack’s world changed. He had to give up things like sports and riding his bike; his little heart just couldn’t handle them.

“It was hard emotionally at first,” Troy says. “One day you’re at the kids’ party in the gymnasium, and the next day you come home and can’t do anything. No baseball, no soccer, no riding bikes, no playing with friends.”

Initially, doctors told the Langfords that Zack would likely need a heart transplant within a year to survive. But aided by medication, his condition stabilized in the early months, something that is not normal in cases such as Zack’s.

“We were fortunate that we caught it,” Troy says. “Usually (at diagnosis, a patient) is in the hospital waiting for a transplant and they stay in the hospital waiting for a transplant.”

Eventually though, the disease took a toll. In March of 2021, Zack was placed onto the heart transplant list at the University of Iowa, and a year later, in March of this year, he was also placed on the transplant list at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.

“Zack is the only child that has been dual-listed at Kansas City with another hospital,” Amanda says. “The fact that Children’s Mercy agreed to take on Zack was a blessing in itself.”

Even in these times of turmoil, Zack remains upbeat. He attends classes at Gilbert Middle School on a daily basis, and his positive outlook has an infectious quality to it that inspires everyone.

“Zack’s always upbeat and positive when he has every reason in the world to be upset,” Gilbert Middle School Principal Mike Danilson says. “His positive demeanor and outlook bring people together. It’s hard not to instantly like him and root for him.”

So now Zack, Amanda, Troy, Zander, and Zazu wait and hope. They wait for that call, which could come in at any moment, day or night, and they hope – and hope and hope – that Zack’s other organs aren’t taxed to the point that a transplant won’t be possible. Zack has had what he calls his “bug out bag” packed for a long time, and each night the family members go to bed wondering if a ring of the phone will jar them awake and change their lives yet again.

“At any moment, we could go,” Amanda says.

THE FINANCIAL BURDEN

Amanda and Troy are both originally from the Kansas City area. It’s where their primary support system still resides. And so they’ve asked themselves the question many times: Why aren’t we back there now?

“The biggest reason we haven’t moved is Gilbert Schools,” Troy says. “We were planning on moving back to Kansas City because that’s where a lot of our support is, and you want to be around family and friends. But the kids really liked the school here and made friends, and the school has been great. So we’ve changed our plans to keep the kids here in school.”

The financial burden caused by any medical crisis is immense, but a condition like Zack’s is extraordinary. All of the time off work to shuttle him to appointments in Iowa City and Kansas City, the myriad medications, the tests, the everything – it all adds up quickly.

“Nothing is cheap about being sick,” Troy says. “You try to save, but it goes out faster than it comes in.”

The Langford family recently began working with the Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) in an effort to fundraise to help cover Zack’s medical expenses. As of Wednesday morning, the family had raised $7,758 with a goal of raising $75,000.

COTA is the nation’s only fundraising organization solely dedicated to raising life-saving dollars to support transplant-ready children and young adults. Every penny in donation made to COTA in honor of a patient goes to pay transplant-related expenses.

To support Zack and the Langford family with a tax-deductible donation, you can visit his COTA website: COTAforHeartWarriorZack.com. Under the EVENTS tab on the website, you can also purchase a HEART WARRIOR ZACK wristband, the same wristband that loosely hangs on Zack’s right arm each day.

There is also a fundraising site – heartwarriorzack.itemorder.com – where T-shirts, sweatshirts, and hats can be ordered, all emblazoned with the Zack Heart Warrior logo that he originally drew himself before he handed it off to a friend to put the finishing touches on. Again, all of the funds raised from the sale of the merchandise will go toward Zack’s medical expenses.

Zack is excited about the possibility of a new heart. Not only will he get to wear what he calls “the cool pajamas” in the hospital, if all goes well he’ll eventually return to normal activities.

He’ll be able to run again. He’ll be able to play some sports again. 

He’ll be able to be a kid again.

Gilbert senior Mikayla Lauritsen turns her passion into a future

Sitting with her legs tucked underneath her, Gilbert senior Mikayla Lauritsen pushes her hair back behind her ears to reveal a beaming smile on her face as she talks about her passion. It’s an under-the-radar passion, something that probably not a lot of her classmates even know about, but it’s started her on a journey she will follow after she exits high school.

Lauritsen’s love and dedication to it is what makes her chuckle though as she sits in the office of Gilbert Assistant Principal John Ronca on a late August afternoon. Her mind drifts back to the summer of 2019, prior to the start of her freshman year at GHS, and her reluctance to even join the group that she now considers family.

“I had a friend who said, ‘I think you’d be interested in this,’ but I honestly felt obligated to join her at the new student meeting,” Lauritsen said. “But it was probably the best investment I’ve made.”

That investment was in Team Neutrino, an engineering club for Story County students founded at Ames High School in 2011 before it moved to Iowa State University in 2012. Each spring, Team Neutrino competes in the FIRST Robotics Competition with the goal of qualifying for the World Championship.

The build and competition are only part of the team’s mission though. Team Neutrino also spends days, weeks, and months mentoring young students in central Iowa in an effort to highlight the benefits of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).

“Getting other kids involved is really, really important,” Lauritsen, who is now in her fourth year with the team said. “We want to be able to teach STEM to the new generation, and we’re willing to help any aspiring engineer with anything they want to do.”

Team Neutrino recently produced its own television show entitled Full STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) Ahead, which airs on Ames Public Access TV (Mediacom channel 121-16). Debuting on Aug. 27, the seven-episode series broadcasts every Saturday.

Team Neutrino began its outreach to aspiring engineers online during the COVID-19 pandemic with Stay At Home STEAM, a Youtube series that ran for nine weeks.

“During quarantine, we were all trying to figure out how to get more kids interested in STEM, so we came up with these activities that would be focused around the principles of STEAM,” Lauritsen said.

As part of its summer outreach program, Team Neutrino teaches a class through the Ames Community School District. It also takes part in summer camps, and attends other events throughout central Iowa to spread its love for engineering.

In some ways, it can be a full-time job. Throw in the additional hours of work and exhaustion — mentally and physically — during competition season and Lauritsen says it’s her team’s version of varsity athletics.

“We say it’s very much like a varsity sport that is played year-around,” she said.

It’s that willingness to give back to her own classmates and the younger generation that impresses Gilbert Principal Cindy Bassett.

“I’m super excited for Mikayla because she has found and spent time with something that she’s so passionate about,” Bassett said. “She’s excelled and helped her team excel, and she just makes a great role model for other high school kids and other kids in the district who want to go into those areas.”

The FIRST Robotics Competition is considered the big-time in Team Neutrino’s world, and in 2022 the group had its most successful season in history. It all began in early January on what is called Kickoff Day, where robotics teams across the country learned about the game that would be played. That’s when strategy and plans were put into place, as teams had only six weeks to build their robot and get it ready to compete in Rapid React, a game that revolves around utilizing the robots to shoot inflatable over-sized tennis balls into a central hub.

“During build season, we’re together probably 20 to 25 hours per week,” Lauritsen said.

Team Neutrino’s 2022 build went quite well, as it was one of only three teams to triple qualify for the World Championship. It won the Engineering Inspiration Award at the Iowa Regional, and then captured the Chairman’s Award at the Minnesota North Star Regional.

At the World Championship in Houston, Team Neutrino became the first Iowa team to win the Championship Engineering Inspiration Award, a fact that Lauritsen relays with pride.

“When we won the event with the robot at the North Star Regional, that was really cool too,” she said.

This season, Lauritsen is taking on an even bigger role with Team Neutrino as a team captain, an honor bestowed upon her during the offseason. She admits there are butterflies in her stomach as she schemes with her teammates to keep Team Neutrino among the most competitive groups in the country.

“I was really excited and also really scared when I found out I was named a captain,” she said. “I was speechless and I wondered how can I live up to these expectations? But then I thought, oh yeah, I have a lot of great people that can help me.

“This past offseason, we did a good job of getting people involved.”

Not only does Team Neutrino continue its outreach program while it prepares for the spring competition season, it also has to constantly fundraise. News flash: it’s not cheap to build a robot, which is why the group — which includes a group of dedicated advisors led by team coach Brian Steward, Professor of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at Iowa State — is constantly looking for ways to raise funds.

“A lot of people don’t know that it’s really expensive to build a robot,” Lauritsen said. “We raise about $40,000 every year and most of it is through sponsorships.”

Last season, companies such as Apple — yes, THE Apple — and NASA were major donors to the team. So were John Deere, Sauer-Danfoss, and Workiva. In all, some 20 organizations contributed to the team’s cause.

Lauritsen is hopeful the 2023 season will be equally successful to last spring. Afterward, she’ll set her sights on her future as a student at Iowa State next fall.

Want to take a guess at what she plans to major in?

“Mechanical engineering and industrial engineering are the two possible fields at Iowa State,” Lauritsen, who has already been accepted to the college, said. “I’m really interested in manufacturing and how to make things more efficient, but that’s not (offered) at Iowa State.”

Something that began out of reluctance with that initial Team Neutrino meeting has now turned into a potential career for Lauritsen. Sometimes, it’s the chances we take that produce the best results, something Lauritsen now knows first-hand.

To view the 2022 Team Neutrino Chairman’s video, click HERE.

 

Loving. Understanding. Forgiving. Loyal. Comforting.

Truly, a child’s best friend at the moment when he or she needs unconditional love the most.

That’s Tilly, arguably the most popular attraction at Gilbert Elementary.

Tipping the scales at a svelte 118 pounds, the 3-year-old Greater Swiss Mountain Dog has called Gilbert Elementary her home since she was just 12 weeks old. The mostly black and white with wisps of chestnut bundle of joy introduced herself to the students at around 25 pounds, but has since more than quadrupled in size.

“Tilly is an important part of our building,” Gilbert Elementary Principal Staci Edwards said. “You can see the kiddos who just light up when they see her. When I give tours to new families and sometimes when Tilly isn’t here I say, ‘Hey, we have a dog and it lives in this room,’ and you just know that is something that’s special to the elementary. It makes the kiddos feel like it’s a special place to be.”

Resource teacher Kendra Braucher was the mastermind behind bringing Tilly into the Gilbert district, and Tilly is a member of Braucher’s family outside of school hours. Tilly accompanies Braucher to school and stays in Braucher’s classroom throughout the day.

“She’s a very loving dog and she fits the breed well,” Braucher said as Tilly, who was the junior division obedience champion at the Story County Fair over the summer, sat by her side in her classroom last week. “She wants to be by people because she loves attention. Anybody that will give her scratches and pets, she’s all over them.”

Mornings are a unique time around the elementary building. As kids sit in the hall waiting for classes to begin, Braucher and an excited Tilly will make their rounds. And in an instant, grins appear and spirits are lifted as the kids get a chance to pet and play with Tilly before they head off to a day of learning.

Braucher jokes that Tilly may have an ulterior motive for the morning routine.

“We joke she’s checking out what (the kids) have for a snack,” Braucher said. “She just walks by and sniffs everybody, but it’s starting the day off on a happy note.”

Tilly spends the majority of her school day either sitting in front of the window in Braucher’s room so she won’t miss anything going on in the halls, or napping in her favorite pink bean bag that she outgrew long ago. But when she’s needed to help put a sparkle in the eyes of a child or simply just to listen, she’s ready.

“We have some kids who don’t like to read aloud, so Tilly will sit and read with the kids,” Braucher said. “They’ll read out loud to her and she can listen to help them feel more comfortable.

“Sometimes we have kids who are just feeling sad on a day, so they might go lay on the trampoline with (Tilly) and just snuggle. Dogs can change the attitudes of kids almost immediately.”

That’s evident when Braucher looks at Tilly a few moments later and asks, “Do you want to go to Joni’s room?”

Tilly is immediately on her feet and at the door. The second Braucher opens the door, there goes Tilly, bounding down the hall, around a corner, and right into Joni Tickle’s kindergarten classroom, much to the delight of the students. There are squeals, a lot of laughs and, yes, a lot of hugs during Tilly’s five-minute trip to the room.

“She works mostly with students who have social and emotional needs,” Braucher said. “However, she’s available to anybody in the building who needs her.”

Edwards doesn’t know how many schools have emotional support animals for their students, but she’s ecstatic that Tilly is available in her building.

“I definitely think it makes us unique in the area at least,” Edwards said. “Whether our kiddos are nonverbal or struggling with their emotions, it’s a safe place to get a hug and get support, which is ultimately the purpose of having her here.”

 

Irene Jiao Fei, who will be a 4th grader at Gilbert Intermediate School this fall, sits on the floor inside the living room of her north Ames home and rapidly shifts her eyes from side to side as she studies every piece on the chess board that has been set up on her family’s coffee table.

She’s playing just for fun, but fun to her is winning. On this Tuesday morning, the outcome is never in doubt though. It’s her dad, Zhe Fei, who sits on the opposite side of the board and he readily admits he’s no match for his 9-year-old prodigy.

Irene smirks from time to time as her dad moves his pieces. She’s already six moves ahead in her mind, and soon enough — less than five minutes removed from the start of the game — they both stand up. Zhe chuckles as Irene takes a step back and does a short and spirited celebration dance.

When it comes to the game of chess, Irene is in a league of her own.

In early June, Irene took her game global when she claimed the FIDE World School Chess Championship U9 (under 9) in Panama City, Panama. Over the nine-day tournament, she won seven matches with two draws to claim the title handily over runner-up Jose Guevara Ruiz Santiago of Spain.

It was the culmination of what has been a whirlwind few years for the family. Zhe and Irene’s mom, Yan Jiao, first introduced Irene to the game when they enrolled her in a Gilbert Elementary after school chess club organized by Iowa State student Anthony Swindell. Then in kindergarten during the 2018-19 school year, Irene attended the club once a week and she says Swindell immediately saw her potential.

“My parents signed me up for a chess club so that I could stay at school a little longer,” Irene, who celebrated her ninth birthday while in Panama, said. “(Swindell) said that I was good. After the second time, the coach said I was very good.”

Irene’s aptitude for the game came as a surprise to her parents, but it didn’t take them long to support their daughter’s passion. Soon enough, they entered Irene, then a first grader, in her first tournament — the US Chess/Chesskid Online Elementary Championship — and she placed ninth out of more than 500 entrants.

“She really surprised us,” Zhe said. “No one (in the family) had played chess before. I also studied chess at the same time as her, but she progressed much more (quickly).”

Since then, Irene has steadily built a resume that very few young players possess, highlighted by the world title. She’s twice won the K-5 Iowa state championship, and later this month she’ll represent the state at the 3rd Annual John D. Rockefeller III National Tournament of Elementary School State Champions in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

Irene lights up when she mentions that she’s traveled to Panama. She plays tournament chess primarily in Iowa and neighboring states, and has also been to New Jersey to compete.

“It’s a really fun activity and she can also compete with people,” Zhe said. “She likes winning too, and she also enjoys traveling.”

The success comes from hard work. Yes, in the beginning chess came naturally to Irene, but she’s put in the work to build her game to its current state.

She’s always looking to improve, and she’s always looking to use her opponents’ weaknesses against them, which is why she studies them when possible before they sit across the table from one another.

“Usually, in small tournaments, there are two to three (games) a day and I don’t have much time to study them,” she said.

“You always have to study your opponent,” Zhe interjects. “Before games, you have to study theory from other peoples’ games.”

Zhe thinks his daughter’s calm demeanor also plays a role in her success. Despite her young age, Irene is able to keep her emotions in check for the most part, and she never celebrates her victories for long. She’s always looking toward that next game, that next challenge.

And when she does get frustrated? Her mom says a bowl of chocolate ice cream lightens her mood immediately.

“Her mental strength is really strong,” Zhe said. “She’s normally quite calm and I think that’s one of the reasons she does so well. In the final game (at the world championships), she knew she was going to win the entire tournament and she was still calm.”

Irene and her parents now hope they can give back to the game that has brought them so much by helping new players learn and appreciate it. Irene will take part in the Chess Camp at Gilbert Intermediate School next week, July 18-22, and will share her experiences with her fellow campers.

“She wants to share the fun parts of chess with them,” Zhe said. “It’s quite important to us because she really gained a lot of support from organizations in Iowa and the country, so we want to give back. We want to support other kids and help them play games with other beginners.”

Amy Griffin, the principal at Gilbert Intermediate, is excited to have Irene involved in the camp and a part of the Gilbert Schools family.

“The intermediate school is very lucky to have Irene as a student leader,” Griffin said. “Irene has such a fun personality and always works hard to be her best. I’m excited for Irene to share this experience (of winning the world championship) with other students this upcoming school year as we celebrate her achievement.”

The Chess Camp, which will be run by the Des Moines Chess Academy, will be held from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. each day. There will be four different grade groups: preschool-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12.

All Gilbert students wanting to attend the camp will receive a 50 percent reduction in tuition.

For more information on the camp, click HERE. To register for the camp, click HERE.

We hope to see all of our new aspiring chess players at the camp next week and — who knows? — maybe there’s another Irene Jiao Fei waiting to unleash his or her potential.