ShawneeDispatch.com

Last week, it happened again; the Peavler family was forced to go to the hospital.

For about a week, their lives would at least partially be spent at University of Kansas Hospital, where 16-year-old Dalton would receive treatment for his cystic fibrosis. But the Shawnee family takes the hospital stay in stride; they've done this before, and they know they, and Dalton, can handle it.

By Saturday, Dalton was feeling much better, enough to have a friend come to visit along with his dad, Henry, and little sister Kayce.

"Today he doesn't need oxygen," said his mom, Jennifer, who works at the hospital and basically lives there whenever these hospital stays become necessary. "When he arrived here six days ago, he slept for three days straight and required oxygen to get his oxygen level to a safe state."

And though some people might think a hospital stay would be especially difficult for someone who is the co-chair for the May 3 Great Strides to Cure CF in Shawnee, Jennifer said the reminder of her son's illness actually helps her focus more on the task at hand.

"It helps me focus on something that I can control and I can do," she said. ": I can't do anything about the fact that he has CF and he's sick, but I can focus my energies on helping researchers find a cure for this disease by raising money."

Cystic fibrosis causes the mucus membranes in Dalton's lungs to produce a thick, sticky tar substance that is described as about 400 times thicker than that of a healthy person, Jennifer said.

"So it's kind of like super glue - a sticky super glue that keeps the lungs from being able to pass air in and out as they usually would," Jennifer said.

But Dalton has shown ever since infancy he is a fighter.

"As an infant he was very sick, and he wasn't expected to see his first birthday," Jennifer said.

But Dalton turned the corner and began doing fairly well: He attended school and was able to play sports like soccer and baseball, his favorite.

In July 2005, however, he got a lung infection he couldn't seem to shake. When it was clear this was not a routine infection, Dalton was hospitalized, and the family learned he had developed MRSA, or a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection.

"It's not uncommon as a phase or progression of CF, when they develop different lung bacterias, and unfortunately since it's antibiotic-resistant, it's very difficult to manage," Jennifer said. "It has caused his pulmonary function to decrease a great deal, which is why he's now home-schooled."

And every now and then, too much of the infection builds up, which means a return to the hospital. In the past two years on average, Dalton is in the hospital every three months, anywhere from 10 to 17 days at a time.

"It's a constant, chronic condition, and so it's a daily, constant work to try to keep his lungs healthy," Jennifer said.

The only method of fighting the MRSA is to get as much of it out of Dalton's lungs as possible. So he takes inhaled medications that try to thin secretions so he can cough them up and respiratory therapy that includes a vibrating vest that shakes his body with different frequencies to loosen the secretions in his lungs so he can cough them up.

Another big part of his day: eating. Because the same mucus membranes that are in the lungs are in the digestive tract, the disease prevents his body from absorbing nutrition.

"He is technically considered to be malnutritioned," Jennifer said. "There's a direct link between pulmonary status and nutritional status. It's a big focus now to try to get him as nutritionally stable as we can."

So Dalton is on a high calorie, high protein and high fat diet, consuming 3,500 and 4,000 calories a day.

"Which is equivalent to a grizzly bear," Dalton adds, somewhat proudly. "I learned that on the Discovery Channel."

Still, it's not as much fun as it might sound. He has to watch his vitamin levels and take pancreatic enzymes every time he eats, because the CF blocks his pancreas from producing such enzymes.

"It's almost like a whole other job, because you just eat, eat, eat to maintain your body weight, let alone gain any weight," Jennifer said.

The Peavlers do their best to keep Dalton on track, though it's hard to force a teenager to live by such strict rules. Dalton and his parents differ a little about his condition.

"I think my doctor would consider I've been, not doing perfectly with it, but I mean, I'm doing well, I'd say," Dalton said.

"You would?" his mother said. "You can't listen to him, because we all brought him to the emergency room on New Year's Eve last year, and his pulmonary function was like, in the 30s. They'd say, 'We need to give you some oxygen,' and he'd say, 'No, I don't need any.'"

When it was clear that hospital stays would be frequent, Jennifer got a job in the administrative offices at the KU hospital. She'd never worked for a hospital before, but there were benefits to being available for Dalton at all times.

"There's that mother component - I don't care how big he is, he's still my little boy - and wanting to be with him and near him when he's sick," she said. "It has helped I think relieve a lot of family stress, that his dad and I aren't trying to juggle back and forth."

Dalton even will admit he appreciates his mother's presence.

"It helps me a lot that she's here," he said. "It would be more of a problem if she stayed here with me and then had to drive and go out somewhere for work. But she's just two floors down now, so it's pretty important and special that she's able to be with me."

Through the years, the Great Strides walk has become a big part of helping the family cope with the challenges of Dalton's illness.

"Clearly it's taken a toll; the MRSA has changed his quality of life," Jennifer said. "Because he can't do the things he used to do: He doesn't have the physical ability and endurance and stamina even going out and walking around the mall, or things like that. They're more challenging than they were."

The family has been participating in the walk since 1992, and Jennifer has served as chair for almost every year since 1994. It's one of the family's biggest annual events.

"They say it takes a village to raise a kid; that would be very true, because it takes all of us to raise this kid," Jennifer said. "I might be pulling my hair out the week of the walk, because it's like planning a party for 600 people, but the fun part of it is we all are doing it together."

With CF, because they carry life-threatening conditions, patients must stay in isolation rooms, so Dalton hasn't had much face to face contact with others who have CF. At the walk, though there is a three-foot rule between CF patients, it is a chance to meet other families. Technology also has helped Dalton connect with other CF patients, through Web sites and Facebook and MySpace pages.

It's also important to do all they can to help find better treatment for Dalton. There haven't been many breakthroughs in CF treatments, Jennifer said, though now the median survival age for CF patients is 37, up from just 27 in 1985.

The Shawnee walk's goal this year is $210,000, and it has gotten so large that it has been moved to Shawnee Mission Park's Theatre in the Park area. Jennifer said she anticipates about 600 walkers, with 500 signed up already. More than 100 of those are from Mill Valley High School, where Dalton would be a sophomore now if not for CF, including all 42 baseball players.

"It's been really nice to see that kind of support," Jennifer said. "With him being home bound taught now: there's that very negative side to losing the ability to spend time with his peers, so I think that's a great way that they have stepped up to show support for Dalton."

To learn more about the Great Strides Walk to Cure CF, or to register, visit www.cff.org.