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Midwest City family gets boost from Carl Albert students

Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City) - 4/17/2015

April 17--MIDWEST CITY -- Kelli and Zach Foster's life with their 4-year-old son Kannon can be stressful financially and emotionally, but thanks to students at Carl Albert High School the family is getting some relief.

Kannon has a rare chromosomal disorder called tetrasomy i5p mosiacism.

The Fosters were presented with a check for $45,351 on Thursday during a school assembly. The money came from the Students With A Goal fundraiser at the school in the Midwest City-Del City district.

Kannon has one of only five known cases of the disorder in the world and battles daily seizures, frequent respiratory infections and severe scoliosis.

The family plans to use the money to pay off their van and buy a therapy dog that can alert the family to imminent seizures.

"Whenever someone is having a seizure or about to, they put off a scent or pheromone that only dogs can detect," Zach Foster said. "When that happens, the dog can alert us. Sometimes the seizures happen in the middle of the night, so now when they do, we can be aware of what is going on."

Foster, a Midwest City firefighter, said there is no cure for the disorder and Kannon will not improve.

He said they were "blown away" when they found out how much money was raised.

The total is a record for the SWAG campaign. Last year's total was about $36,000. Students raised money from car washes, bake sales, skate nights and other events.

"It's definitely going to help us. There are so many stressful things about being a parent of a special needs child," Zach Foster said. "This will help with those things. That these students would do what they did for us is amazing."

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