By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer
Prevail Fitness in Cabot is holding an equipment marathon starting Monday to raise money for the family of an 11-year-old Jacksonville girl who has had two heart transplants in less than a month.
Cheyenne Walters’ family always knew her heart didn’t work as well as it should. Surgeries were part of her life from birth. But last month, the heart they thought would only require maintenance had to be replaced. But a week later, her body rejected the new heart, and she had to have a second transplant. Her mother, April, has been at her side continually.
On Thursday, the Warren Dupree Elementary student was taken off the critical list at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, but when she will be able to go home so that her life can get back to normal is not known.
Cheyenne is one of five children. In the beginning of her hospital stay, her grandmother, Glendia Flowers of Jacksonville, took care of her brothers and sisters.
But Glendia, 60, died unexpectedly in her sleep on Oct. 25, shortly after the second transplant, and Cheyenne’s uncle, Eric Flowers, a sales manager at Prevail Fitness and a single father with two children of his own, took over their care.
Flowers describes his niece as fun-loving, witty and strong.
“She’s absolutely stronger than any child you’ve ever known inyour life. To endure what she has, she’s given us strength,” Flowers said.
Registration for the 26-mile equipment marathon is $10. The marathon will kick off with a 5K run at 8 a.m. Monday, Nov. 24.
There is no charge for the run. Organizers say it is also a way to get a large group together to pray for Cheyenne. T-shirts for the event are $5.
To help with feeding six children, Sheka Elder, a massage therapist at Prevail Fitness, is collecting coupons to take grocery shopping at least twice before the end of the month.
Elder, who is married to an airman and has three children, said she has been shopping with coupons for only a few months but she has been able to cut her grocery bill from about $1,000 a month to about $400.
She normally spends about 20 hours a week clipping coupons and searching websites for coupons she can print.
But now she has Andrea Sayers, the owner of Prevail Fitness, and Bekah Hensley, an employee, helping her with coupons for the Flowers family.
Donations of coupons and cash are needed.
“The more we get, the more we will be able to buy,” Elder said.
Donations may be made at Prevail Fitness, at any Metropolitan Bank location and online at www.everribbon.com.
Make checks payable to the Cheyenne Walters Fund.
For more information, call Prevail Fitness at 501-843-4500.
