Schools

Kids Jump to Help Raise $9K for Teacher's Baby

Students at Old Farmers Road School participate in gym class fundraiser to help local baby with rare disorder.

Jayden Feichter isn’t even a year old, but he’s spent more time in a hospital and with doctors than many people do in a lifetime.

Just seven days after birth, Jayden’s father Adam, a Washington Township police officer, needed to perform CPR on the infant in their home. Fortunately, the trained first responder was able to revive his son, and the family spent most of November in the hospital.

Doctors found out the newborn had congenital hyperinsulinism, a rare condition in which the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has treated just 400 patients since 1998.

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The condition is a disorder that causes low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) in infants and children, according to the hospital’s website.

Jennifer Feichter, Jayden’s mom, now stays home with her baby to help keep an eye on his condition. Feichter is a teacher at Old Farmers Road School.

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Her absence, and the medical troubles her family has endured in recent months, have not gone unnoticed by her colleagues and students.

Students and faculty spent the second week of May helping the family, as gym classes participated in Jump for Jayden, a fundraiser to aid the Long Valley family with their medical costs.

During each gym class, students participated in different exercises: jumping rope individually, long jump rope with other students, and alternating hops through hoops laid on the ground.

“The kids are just loving the activities,” said Gifted and Talented teacher Sarah Voss, a former Old Farmers gym teacher. “And the support from the families and community … it’s just been amazing.”

Along with the jumping came an offering from families and businesses in the fundraiser, everywhere from $5 to $1,000, Voss said. Before Friday’s tally was counted, the fundraiser had jumped to nearly $9,000 to help Jayden with medical costs.

Adam Feichter was noticeably moved by the community’s effort to help his family.

“It’s amazing,” he said, while watching the students jump through hoops Friday morning. Feichter learned of Long Valley’s generosity firsthand just two weeks before Jayden was born, when he helped coordinate a 5K Run Like Lightning event to help Glenn Lightner, a 14-year-old battling brain cancer.

Hyperinsulism can be outgrown during childhood, Feichter said, and that is the family’s hope.

They may not have had Jennifer Feichter as a teacher, and they may not have met her son, but the Old Farmers Road School student body will Jump for Jayden as long as it takes to make him well.


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