by Valery Bedoya, Makayla Gardner, Charlotte Guilian and Hannah Cate Miller

Fairhope High School students and staff wore gold for the pep rally and football game to raise awareness for Spina Bifida, Friday, October 4. Spina Bifida is a condition caused when the spinal cord does not develop properly, and this condition has affected families in the community, which makes this game special to them. 

In previous years, a ceremony was held to recognize the kids with Spina Bifida, but due to the rain, the ceremony was canceled this year. 

The Gold Out Game was started many years ago by a Fairhope football coach, Brett Horne and his family, to help raise awareness for their daughter and her peers who also have Spina Bifida. Horne’s goal of this special night is to promote awareness for a condition that is not as well known.

“Well, you know how for breast cancer the color is pink, for Spina Bifida the color is yellow, so when we do the ribbons the color is yellow. It just raises awareness and makes people think about the more common things like I always go with the breast cancer thing with everyone wearing pink; it just raises awareness. People get to know things, get to know things about it because Spina Bifida affects about 1,500 kids. It affects a lot of kids,” Horne said.

Horne’s daughter Kaitlyn was born with Spina Bifida and continues to fight every day. Although this condition might not always be easy for them, it brings them together and makes them stronger as a whole. 

“She’s [Kaitlyn] had nine surgeries throughout her life. She had three surgeries over the past summer. And it impacts us, you know she has a twin named Emily, who’s also a freshman, and a little brother named Keith. It really just affects the whole family cause we have to travel all over the country to different doctors.”

Kaitlyn is homebound because of struggles from her three surgeries this summer. Horne said there are families from across the country who have children with disabilities which affects the entire family dynamic. 

“It affects you as a whole, because when something happens to one it happens to another, but it strengthens our family, we’re strong together, my wife Heather and I, we have to watch out for certain things,” Horne said.

Horne said raising awareness is important because most people don’t know that there are so many types of Spina Bifida. 

“They call it the snowflake disease because there’s so many different variables to it, not one child is the same. It’s not like the flu where you come in and you get treated; Spina Bifida patients are all different and unique in their own way,” 

Raising awareness also shows people more about Spina Bifida, and there are people out there with it who are fully functioning.

“There’s people with Spina Bifida that are doctors and lawyers and living completely normal lives. For example, my daughter, until now she’s been full time at school and she’s been here since preschool. It’s not something that defines you—it’s something that you can show the world that you can do whatever you want to,” Horne said.

The Fairhope community has shown so much support that Horne said it is truly awesome. For years the community has raised thousands and thousands of dollars for different organizations.

This year’s money will go to Children of Alabama in Birmingham for families with different disabilities to help them out financially for different medical needs or even housing.

“This summer my daughter had to have surgery when we weren’t expecting it. She had some complications, you know because she had three surgeries. Well, the community and the school—just the support they threw at us and everything else, it’s amazing,” Horne said.

Bringing awareness has touched the lives of those involved with the game in past years.

“Even with the game, there’s been instances where we have the players at the banquet at the end of the year get up and—one year there was a senior who got up and said that the Spina Bifida game meant a lot to him because a lot of people aren’t around kids with disabilities. And there were about twenty kids there in wheelchairs or crutches or whatnot, and they got to see that and see these kids’ smiles, you know, how happy they were.” 

Horne said it’s an awesome feeling because they have such strong support. 

“Fairhope is strong. It’s a family place. There’s other places, schools up the road and all around, but there’s just not a feeling like you get here because always the community and the Fairhope family just rallies around everybody.” 

Yearly, before the Spina Bifida game people from all over the state come to eat and visit.

“We feed about two hundred people: kids with disabilities or families and doctors, therapists, everyone that’s involved in the care and just the family of people, not just Spina Bifida, but with all kinds of disabilities.”

Horne and those affected enjoy and appreciate the support, and as Horne said, 

“Yeah, it’s just something special.”