StarTelegram
reporter, Robert Cadwallader, has written a story about one of the Kennedale High School graduating seniors, Jacob Powell, and the struggles he has faced to get to this point in his life.{{more}}The full story can be read atNews/local/community/arlington
Powell was born with an extreme condition, his bladder was exposed through his open abdomen. It took 29 surgeries to repair and that combined with all the complications, Jacob?s development was slowed.
One major complication was his extreme allergy to latex. This meant for each campus he attended, it had to be latex free. Rooms had to be cleared of any product that might contain latex such as pencil erasers, rubber bands, band-aides and other plastic products and replaced with latex free products. Even party balloons had to be checked. But the allergy went even further than that to include foods that contain proteins in latex, such as avocados, chestnuts and bananas.
These complications, surgeries, recoveries and life threatening infections often meant home instruction by KISD teachers and limited contact with his peers. Jacob, though, is now wrapping up his senior year and ready to move on.
This past week, he received a special award from his teacher, Kim Brown, at the KHS Award Day assembly. As Brown told Star Telegram?s Robert Cadwallader, ?Out of all my seniors that I teach English, I chose the one who worked the hardest and improved the most. He is an amazing person.?
Read more about Jacob and his adoptive parents at
Kennedale senior ?fought my way? through a
lifetime of surgeries to cusp of graduation
Comments are closed.