Lombard school celebrates girl's memory with kind words, actions
Students at a Lombard elementary school recently celebrated the life of one of their peers with an author visit that emphasized the power of kindness and a colorful challenge designed to encourage kindness in action.
McKenna Tyszkiewicz would have turned 12 on March 15, when her younger sister's school, Park View Elementary in Lombard Elementary District 44, honored her with a pink-themed event about making a positive influence.
McKenna's mother, Nicole Tyszkiewicz, organized the assembly and activity to mark the first birthday her daughter didn't get to celebrate after McKenna's death last July from a chromosomal disorder so rare there are only six other documented cases.
"It's very easy to want to crawl in a ball and not know what to do for her," Tyszkiewicz said. "But her life stood for so much more, and she has a story to be told and a life to be honored."
McKenna's disorder caused many ailments.
She had microcephaly, with an undersized brain and head. She was missing a large portion of the brain that connects the left and right hemispheres. She had an extremely small stature, likely from dwarfism. She wore a back brace because of scoliosis. She had seizures and cerebral palsy. She suffered glaucoma, reflux and a heart murmur. She didn't attend school in person, but District 44 provided services for her to learn and receive therapy at home.
"She couldn't walk or talk or even see, but she had the sweetest disposition. She was always happy and smiling," her mother said. "You were reminded every minute of what counts in life."
That's why, when Tyszkiewicz read author Amy Logan's book, "A Girl With A Cape," she felt an instant connection. The book, Tyszkiewicz said, is about "teaching children their purpose in the world and using your voice for good."
She contacted Logan and told her McKenna's story. The author agreed to visit Park View, and her talk formed the first part of McKenna's life celebration on Friday.
Once Logan wrapped up, Park View students stepped outside to the playground, where McKenna's family had placed 275 pink rocks into outlines of hearts, each rock painted with hearts or loving words. Each student was to take a rock and complete an act of kindness in McKenna's memory, either passing along the rock to the recipient of the kindness for him or her to continue to spread it, or keeping the stone as a reminder to be kind often.
The Tyszkiewicz family, which includes McKenna's father, Michael, and her older brother, a freshman at Glenbard East High School, also placed more than 1,000 pink-painted rocks in Lombard's iconic Lilacia Park for residents and visitors to get in on the kindness.
The gesture represented all of the people - such as Lombard paramedics and pharmacists and personnel in the pediatric intensive care unit at Northwestern Medicine's Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield - who cared for McKenna.
"Each of our lives has great purpose, and when you combine your healing hands, loving hearts and good intentions, you can change the world," Tyszkiewicz said. "Even if it's just within your small community, it changes people's lives - and for the better."