Miller Elementary School brings Christmas spirit in April to rally around ill second-grade teacher
BRADENTON -- Lindsay Gilman is a Christmas fanatic. She loves the movies, the decorations and the giving spirit during the season.
Now, in April, as she undergoes treatment for a rare condition at Duke University Hospital in North Carolina, faculty and staff at Jessie P. Miller Elementary School -- where Gilman is a second-grade teacher -- busted out a bit of their Christmas gear to show their love and support.
"It started as a joke," said Danielle Eister, the school's bookkeeper, who helped lead the charge on Friday.
"It wasn't a joke to me," principal Scott Boyes said. "I said let's all just dress up like Christmas and put a smile on her face."
Almost two years ago, Gilman developed a spinal fluid leak after doctors had to administer a second epidural while Gilman was delivering her son. For a year after her son's birth, doctors couldn't figure out why Gilman was experiencing debilitating headaches and blurry vision.
Once they figured out what was wrong, they weren't able to fix the problem locally.
Imagine it this way: The sac of fluid that surrounds and supports your brain is a balloon. A pin puts a tiny, tiny hole in that balloon and the fluid leaks out. Without the fluid, the brain has no support, resulting in headaches, blurred vision and a host of other problems. A patch -- blood mixed with a type of glue -- is used to take care of the problem. It can be very difficult to make sure the patch gets over the pin prick, but if it does, most people will feel completely normal again.
On Tuesday, Gilman, a former district teacher of the year nominee, and her sister Kari Stanley, who was named the district's teacher of the year this year, left for Duke University Hospital after Stanley researched doctors and specialists who would be able to help her sister get back to normal.
A police chase outside the hospital almost caused the sisters to be late to Gilman's first appointment Wednesday, but they found a detour and made it. The first procedure was Wednesday afternoon and Gilman underwent another procedure on Thursday, where six patches were sent to different areas in an attempt to stop the leak. After she was discharged Thursday, Gilman was ordered to lay flat for 24 hours before the sisters could head home.
They hoped to leave Duke and make the 11-hour trip back to Bradenton sometime on Saturday afternoon.
But some friends and families didn't want to wait that long. They've flooded Gilman and Stanley's social media pages throughout the week, sending prayers and Christmas-related photos.
That's how the idea for Friday came around, Eister said.
Physical education teacher Vincent Paine was renamed "Summer Claus" on Friday, after sporting a full Santa suit while indoors. Third-grade teacher Rebecca Boyce become a Christmas tree, wrapping herself in a strand of lights to pose for pictures. Pre-kindergarteners were sent into a frenzy, as some of them thought it really was Christmas.
And although the Christmas decorations and clothing may have been unusual for some in April, it was just part of being in the Miller family, said Amy Murray, an ESE teacher.
"I saw the email and said 'count me in,' " she said. "This is just status quo for Miller. Anything that needs to get done, gets done."
Meghin Delaney, education reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7081. Follow her on Twitter @MeghinDelaney.
This story was originally published April 29, 2016 at 11:33 PM with the headline "Miller Elementary School brings Christmas spirit in April to rally around ill second-grade teacher ."