Helping Kaiden

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

When Langdon resident Lyndsey Koskimaki, who herself has special needs, heard about two-year-old Kaiden Dressler’s brain tumour, she was touched and wanted to do her part by fundraising to support the family.
On Aug. 14, she decided to do a lemonade stand and the money she raised went to cover the costs of what the Dressler family has to pay for Kaiden’s treatments.
“The reason why I did this is because Kaiden deserves the money to get better and become a healthy normal kid,” said Koskimaki. “We did it in front of Langdon and we actually posted a lot of posters, so everyone can come by and donate the money to Kaiden.”
A few tears were shed as Koskimaki celebrated her 18th birthday by presenting the $24.65 from her lemonade sales to Kaiden’s parents, Erik and Ashley, at the Kaiden’s Journey Fundraiser at Cheadle Hall on Sept. 12 and they could not be any more grateful to the amazing turn out to support their son’s recovery efforts.
“We had no idea, it was a surprise,” said Eric Dressler. “It kicked off the whole night. It really set the tone and she is one amazing young lady. It just shows no matter who you are, anyone can band together and support each other.”
Dressler mentioned his family could not be any happier with people that came out and supported Kaiden’s cause.
“All we’ve had is consistent support,” said Dressler. “From family members coming out to support us to events like tonight in Cheadle, it is unbelievable. As I was saying in the speech there, you have 200 people in the crowd, probably 75 per cent I haven’t met before and all you can tell in their eyes is they care as much as family and friends.”
Dressler best described the experience as just living in the moment and every moment spent with their son is valuable.
The total fundraised through the auction, bar and the GoFundMe account was around $40,000 and all the proceeds went to the family.