Learning life lessons
Teenager with bone disease honored for her advocacy
Pittsburgh Brookline PreK-8 seventh-grader Lexie Bouchard is 34 inches tall, uses a walker and wheelchair, and has brittle bone disease.
But third-grader Julia Gethen had this to say about Lexie: “I think she’s just like us and a very positive person.”
Lexie, 14, of Brookline has formed a special bond with the third-grade class since teacher Melissa Mullee invited her in February to talk about overcoming challenges, a theme the class was reading about. In addition, the class had been watching “Kid President” videos, the star of which is a child who also has brittle bone disease, a congenital condition more formally known as osteogenesis imperfecta.
After the visit, the children each wrote an essay about Lexie. Thirdgrader Jonathan Hensel used a lot of adjectives, including fun-loving, charming, joyful, loyal, loving, brave and smart.
Ms. Mullee shared the essays with Lexie, and Lexie then wrote her own thank you note. “All of you are amazing in my eyes in fact you made me cry when I read your essays,” Lexie wrote.
Lexie had a few compliments of her own in her thank you note: “Promise me that you all will take your education seriously because I see potential in each and every one
of you.”
Ms. Mullee submitted the letters to the Pittsburgh Local Task Force on the Right to Education competition for its Champion Awards.
“They all were right from the heart,” Ms. Mullee said. “Even the kids I struggled with to get them to write more, they filled it up front and back. They really took their time and made an effort to share their thoughts. They didn’t do it for any other reason than they were really inspired by her.”
At a city school board meeting in March, Lexie was named the student champion “for demonstrating outstanding courage and self-advocacy.”
The description of her in the program pulled together sentences from several essays: “She is just like us. She likes to be happy and to think about the things she can do. She overcame many challenges … She inspired me to think that everybody is awesome, especially her. She never gives up. She is a role model and a person to be admired.”
In her thank you note, Lexie asked if she could be a mentor to the class. As a result, several days a week, Lexie gives up recess to visit the class to help students one on one to master their multiplication tables.
“They absolutely love her,” Ms. Mullee said. “They all want to go out and have her quiz them.”
Last week, Lexie gave a high five to third-grader Sophia Diaz after using flash cards to help Sophia master how to multiply by six.
Of Lexie, Sophia said, “She is a champion because she is a very positive person.”
From Lexie, third-grader Arieanna Encrapera said, “I learned that kids with disabilities can be awesome. They can be nice, kind. They can do what we can do but in their own special way.”
Like some other students, third-grader Destiny Downer had noticed Lexie at school but didn’t know her story. “I think she’s awesome,” Destiny said.
Lexie had a difficult start in life, ending up in foster care. Her adoptive parents, Carol and Terry Bouchard, took her in as a foster child when she was 6 and adopted her when she was 9. She was so tiny when she arrived at the Bouchards that she wore clothing in an 18-month toddler size. She now wears a size 7, her mom said.
“Lexie is eternally smiling,” her mom said. “She’s just a normal kid. We never raised Lexie to be anything but normal.”
Lexie likes to swim, has been in Girl Scouts and has done cheerleading.
Lexie has been going to Brookline since kindergarten. Her mom said she struggled at first but now is an A student. She dreams of becoming a pediatrician.
After coming to the Bouchards, Lexie learned how to walk with a walker. She has had leg and hip surgery and is slated for a third surgery this summer related to fluid on her brain. Although she previously had broken bones, her mom said she hasn’t broken any since living with the family. The Bouchards have adopted four other former foster children as well.
Lexie wrote the thirdgraders, “Those essays were so good that when I have surgery and I am bed bound I can’t wait to read them again. They will make me feel so much better.”