7-year-old with craniosynostosis inspires book

Since birth, Cole Spiegel has dealt with craniosynostosis, a condition in which a baby's skull develops too soon. He underwent cranial and facial reconstruction in 2008 to provide needed space for his brain to grow and develop.

After several operations, the 7-year-old grandson of Duane and Judy Buttell of St. Charles still undergoes physical therapy, though his brain is operating at a high level.

The second-grader from Wheaton attends the Avery Coonley School for academically gifted kids and has become passionate about sports and sports statistics, Duane Buttell said.

"When anyone in our family wants to know a sports trivia answer from the past several years, we ask Cole," Buttell said.

Cole's brain got another boost from a family friend, Anne Becker also of St. Charles, who had visited Cole during many of his surgeries at Lurie Children's Hospital and wanted to ease his recovery from his final operation.

Becker, director of art education at Columbia College Chicago, brought a book that a class of her graduate students at had put together full of "whimsical drawings that Cole could draw, sketch or color, and also places to write interpretive thoughts," Buttell said.

"The book is designed for a child to write or draw creatively as a quiet activity while recovering," Becker said. The goal is to "steer children's minds off their illness and aide in their recovery or at least make the recovery go quickly."

Cole responded so well to the book that Becker and her students decided to use it as a model to print hundreds of copies to be given to children staying at the hospital. Fittingly, it is called the "Creative Cole Book."

Becker used the online funding program GoFundMe to get the first edition printed.

She plans to talk to her contacts at Lurie to how she might make more books available. "I would love for the book to go into another printed series," she said.

For the grandparents and parents of Cole, the "Creative Cole Book" was heaven-sent.

"Anne's outreach to these children is special, and many will benefit at Lurie's from her gift to them," Buttell said.

Ready for Jack Axe

One might say Minor Mobley of Excel Automotive Repair in St. Charles is quite excited about the Jack Axe Games event and Rockin for Veteran Wishes concert unfolding Saturday at the Kane County Fairgrounds.

After all, he's been the main organizer of the concert and his business is a sponsor for the day, which starts with games at 7 a.m. and continues with the concert at 3:30 p.m., following the games.

I don't recall an event of this type ever taking place here. Anyone interested in watching the obstacle course racing competition can do so at no charge. Tickets for the concert, featuring Drake Bell, country musician Olivia Dvorak and other local bands, cost $25 and are available at excelautostc.com. Proceeds go to the Operation Warrior Wishes nonprofit organization.

Food, beer vendors, children's activities and entertainment are also available.

Anyone itching to compete on an obstacle course can sign up for the games at the Jack Axe website.

"We are getting a lot of national attention for this, and it's going to be awesome," Mobley said. "A lot of people are getting interested, and we have people coming in from Canada, California, Texas and other places to compete in this. "It will really be a phenomenal event," said Mobley, who is friends with the Jack Axe organizers and got involved in the veterans' benefit portion of the day.

Those swimming Leonards

The title of this book would be fitting for adults tired of grinding through the workweek, but it's really for kids.

Swim instructors extraordinaire Joan Leonard of St. Charles and her son Peter Leonard of Geneva have created a children's book titled "I'd Rather Be Swimming."

Joan is hosting a book giveaway at her family pool from 1 to 5 p. m. next Sunday for any families that ever had children take lessons in that pool.

The authors will have a book signing from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 12 at Town House Books and Café in St. Charles.

The book has illustrations to color, an online video link, diary pages and swimming progress sheets.

The Leonards have been teaching local kids to swim for decades, and it's great to see them share their experience with this learn-to-swim guide.

Some smooth rides

Talk about smooth sailing, this is it. Driving through downtown Geneva on a freshly paved State Street reminds us that the painful construction season ultimately results in nicer roads.

Still, most people who have to drive around the area to get to work say this is the worst construction season they can remember. No matter which routes are taken, road construction awaits.

Sadly, we have this dumb thing called winter that can sometimes last a solid five months. Or, put another way, that's about 20-plus weeks of ruining our roads.

Beef sandwich brigade

Buona Beef, which just opened on Main Street, west of Randall, in St. Charles is getting a lot of the love right now from those who rank Italian beef sandwiches as a favorite food.

While it's a welcome new addition, I've been writing about our various good options in this area for some time.

A reader mentioned he was pleasantly surprised with the Italian beef sandwich at Rosati's. He knew the pizza was good, but this was a bonus.

There are some great Italian beef joints out there, but for now, Buona Beef is on my "must do" list.

dheun@sbcglobal.net