Landon Grindle, a St. Michael 6-year-old, hang out with his Uncle Dale Adams at a Cubs game Saturday, where Grindle was honored to throw out the first pitch of the game.
From Maggie Nixon and our news partners at The Pilot News
PLYMOUTH — Six-year-old Landon Grindle says he’s just a normal kid who plays soccer, tennis, basketball and baseball. But normal to Landon and any other kid his age may be a little different.
The St. Michael kindergartner has Cystic Fibrosis (CF), and takes around 20 pills per day and breathing treatments, as well as two daily treatments that shake his little body.
Mother Jenny says the treatments have just become a way of life, a normal way of life along with Landon’s very active schedule.
“The pills he takes are enzymes,” she said. “He can’t eat anything without taking a pill.”
CF also causes low weight gain, she explained, “and if he gets sick, it’s 14 days of antibiotics.”
“We do one breathing treatment in the morning before school,” father Joel Grindle said. “We do one at night before he goes to bed and so he’s doing that for about an hour or so a day. Other than that, he leads a normal, very active lifestyle.”
The vest, Jenny describes, shakes loose Landon’s “sticky mucus.”
She said the vest, when she holds him, can put her arms to sleep. “It shakes for about 30 minutes. It vibrates my body even. The vest has to be worn 30 minutes twice a day,” she said. “His mucus is ‘sticky’ because of the difference of the salt in his body, the vest helps breaks up the mucus and the medicine, like Albuterol, helps his lungs.”
But, with all of these extra precautions for Landon, he realizes this does not limit him.
In fact, as busy as a 6-year-old can be, Saturday was non-stop — and one of the best days in his life, he said.
Landon has a relative who has season tickets to Chicago Cubs games. The family member was approached to see if there was interest in throwing out the first pitch of a game. If the answer was no, Cubs organizers asked if there was someone else in mind to do the honor.
Kay Faulstich, Landon’s grandmother, said there was no question who came to mind.
“Our family member chose Landon, even though there are other kids in the family. Landon has to do a lot of things he shouldn’t have to do,” she said, “so he gets to do something nobody else gets to do.”
Landon wasn’t alone on his journey to Chicago Saturday — where he pitched it right down the middle to a back-up catcher. Ninety people — all clad in similar T-shirts — made the trek to the Friendly Confines with Landon.
“We headed out of town around 9 a.m.,” Jenny said, “and had a back room rented at The Irish Oak with about 70 people. We went in to Wrigley around 1 p.m. and Landon had to go down the field around 2:30.”
Not one to be different, when Landon was told he could pitch closer because of his age, he strutted straight out to the pitcher’s mound instead. He’d been practicing at Bill Nixon Field with his dad, so the 60 feet and 6 inches didn’t phase him.
“His uncle went with him,” Jenny said. “Landon was pretty pumped. He kept saying that everything was so ‘cool.’ I think he thought the pitching was phenomenal, and being on the field… he kept saying it was cool. All his friends and family were there, from where we were at North Montgomery and Crawfordsville, and here his recent friends, cousins and family, including his twin sister Lexi and 4-year-old sister Addi — all his core people were there.”
Landon got the ball he threw signed from the catcher, who ended up relief in the game, “so that was pretty ‘cool’ too,” Jenny said, “even though the game didn’t end up the way we hoped it would.”
The sea of friends and family, totaling around 90, were easily visible. Joel, a marketing teacher at Plymouth Community Schools, asked his students to help design a logo for shirts. Jenny said, “Joel’s students helped participate to create the designs.”
The shirts were — of course, Cubbies colored white and blue — and included a set of lungs on the front with CF with a big red Cubs-looking C, and on back, the number 17. Not for 2017, but for Landon’s favorite Cubs player, Kris Bryant.
“We did a fundraiser and sold the shirts. We raised $698 for his team: Landonroadwarriors,” Jenny said. “We’re doing this for Cystic Fibrosis awareness. People can still donate. Even if we get $10, it is worth it. This is the fourth year we’ve had a team of friends and family running for Landon in the Chicago Marathon.”
To help donate to Landon’s team, visit http://fightcf.cff.org/site/
