Fish fry fundraiser helps local family

PANAMA CITY — Justina and Keith Herrick must raise almost $18,000 for their little boy, and their friends and neighbors are helping to make it happen.

Keith Herrick grew up attending Cedar Grove Baptist Church, which hosted a fish fry Saturday to raise money for the Herricks to install a chairlift in their van to help transport of their 4-year-old son, Karsten.

The Herricks learned when Karsten was a baby that he has spinal muscular atrophy, a genetic disorder that affects control of muscle movement. Karsten can move very little on his own.

He now rides in a conventional toddler car seat, which his parents say he is rapidly outgrowing. A chairlift will make Karsten’s trips to his doctors in Pensacola easier for everyone.

“Plus, in a car seat you don’t have head support, so he constantly falls over,” Keith Herrick said.

Despite his disabilities, Karsten is an alert, bright little boy. He is enrolled in preschool and said he likes learning about letters.

Surrounded by a family of Florida State fans, Karsten even has learned to do the school’s signature “Warchant” cheer and “the chop.”

“We have him on breathing treatments, a cough assist that makes him cough because he can’t develop his own cough, a shake vest that shakes his chest,” Justina Herrick a she named some of Karsten’s special requirements.

“As a family, we’re used to it,” she said, “It’s our normal.”

The family, including big brother Kaleb Herrick and  Keith’s parents, and many others gathered at Cedar Grove Baptist Church for $6 fish fry with cheese grits, baked beans, cole slaw, hush puppies and dessert.

The Herricks need about $10,000 more for the work to their van and hoped to raise close to that Saturday. A previous fundraiser at the church raised $6,000.

 “For the most part we don’t even think about his disabilities. He’s just a happy child, so it’s hard to be sad about all his disabilities because it doesn’t bother him,” Justina Herrick said.

The couple said they have received support from family, friends, church families, employers and even strangers.

“It gets hard to say thank you because you don’t exactly know what to say because there’s no words to express how grateful our family is,” Keith Herrick said.

After chairlift is installed on the van, the next project will be to buy an electric wheelchair for Karsten because the one they use now is on loan.

Eventually they want to find a house they can adapt to his needs.

There is one bright spot: Thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America, the family will take a trip to Walt Disney World next month.