Fairfield girl leads school assembly on Ostomy Awareness Day | Southeast Iowa Union

Oct. 9, 2024 1:46 pm

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FAIRFIELD – Valerie Kessel is a brave little girl.

The 9-year-old daughter of Alex and Christie Kessel was born with a condition that prevented her intestines from working properly, forcing her to undergo an operation to put a small hole in her belly to connect her intestines to an ostomy bag that collects waste. Valerie has had an ostomy bag ever since she was 4 months old, so she’s never known life without it.

She is now a fourth-grader at Pence Elementary School in Fairfield. Lately, she’s been thinking more about her condition, and fielding questions about it from her classmates. Though Valerie’s ostomy bag mostly remains hidden under her clothes, she can’t always eat the same foods or drink the same liquids as the other kids, since she has to watch her sugar intake. That means no apple juice, for instance.

Valerie wanted an opportunity to answer her classmates’ questions, and then get back to enjoying life as a little kid and doing all the things young kids do. She had that opportunity on Wednesday morning, Oct. 9, when she addressed the entire school during an assembly to recognize Ostomy Awareness Day.

Pence Elementary School teacher Jennifer Clements told the students what an ostomy bag is and why it’s needed. Valerie, joined at the front by her mother, demonstrated on a doll where the ostomy bag connects to her intestine. She then opened the floor to questions from the students. A lot of them were curious to know how the ostomy bag feels and if the tube hurts. Valerie said no, it doesn’t hurt, and that since she’s worn it her whole life, it’s normal for her.

Valerie’s parents said the bag has to be emptied when it’s full, and this includes emptying it in the middle of the night, and the tubing has to be changed every three days. Valerie said she has to be careful that the tube doesn’t come out.

Christie said only about 40 percent of Valerie’s intestines function, so she’s not able to absorb the same amount of nutrients from the food she eats compared to other children. That means Valerie needs to drink protein shakes like PediaSure to get enough calories and vitamins. She’s able to eat school lunches, but she needs to be mindful to drink a lot of water throughout the day because she’s prone to dehydration.

Christie told The Union that Valerie was looking forward to leading this assembly.

“As she’s gotten older, she’s gotten a lot of questions from her friends, and she was excited to have them learn about what she deals with on a daily basis,” Christie said.

To make the assembly extra special, the Kessels’ organization Little Superheroes gathered donations and sponsorships to purchase a T-shirt for every student. The lettering on the shirt reads: “We are all different, but in this school, we all swim together.” Christie said she wanted a slogan that could be used for other assemblies and days of awareness. Pence Principal Angela Jones said the shirts are perfect because the school could use them to raise awareness of other subjects such as Down Syndrome, autism and diabetes.

One of the kids asked if there was a surgery Valerie could get to fix her condition. Christie said no, there’s no way to fix the condition yet, but the family is hopeful that will change. Alex encouraged students to study hard in math and science, so they could one day become researchers who could solve this problem.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at [email protected]