WQXE NEWS

Beth Dugas says the best word to describe her daughter Madison is “sassy.”

“Even people that haven’t met her that just know her story and follow her Facebook page or, you know, if you’ve ever met Madison in person, she’s very unforgettable,” Dugas said. “You won’t forget Madison.”

Madison’s spunky personality has been prevalent in her health battles, which began at an early age with two open heart surgeries in her first ten weeks and a heart transplant at seven months. Most recently, lung issues have resulted in a hospital stay that has now gone past seven weeks.

“They finally did a biopsy on her lungs and found out something that they weren’t expecting,” Dugas said. “She has, they call it pulmonary hemosiderosis, and there’s no cure per se. There are a couple potential treatment options like high-dose steroids and she’s gotten an IVIG treatment, but otherwise there’s really no cure. Just kind of have to maintain.”

Doctors have ruled out a lung transplant at this time, but more surgeries are likely on the horizon in order to address other issues.

“The pulmonary vein is another issue that she’s going to need to have resolved somehow, some way in the future because that pulmonary vein is just going to continue to narrow, and they can go in and open it up through a cast but she needs to have an open heart surgery to fix that,” Dugas said.

As the family navigates Madison’s battle, Dugas says they have felt the support of family, friends, and community, including a GoFundMe titled Miracles for Madison and a tote bag fundraiser.

“Both of our moms are very, very involved, and they help a lot with our son because he’s seven and we try to keep his routine as much as possible through all of it, and then just more friends than we could ever imagine,” Dugas said. “I said ‘I think that like all of Hardin County has been praying for Madison.’”

Updates on Madison’s journey, along with links to the GoFundMe and info on the tote bags, can be found on the Miracles for Madison Facebook page.

Elizabethtown Community and Technical College’s Toy Box Theatre will present Silly Tales From the Toy Box, a story of silly people and animals, this Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at ECTC’s Science Auditorium.

“This one’s called Silly Tales From the Toy Box, and I always adapt and write most of the plays, and so this one is one I did too,” said ECTC Communications and Theatre Professor Katrina Eicher, who founded Toy Box Theatre in 1998. “I adapted it from several different sources, and we usually run about 45 minutes so that young children’s attention spans aren’t, you know, taxed too much, and it’s very silly and it’s very funny.”

The cast is entirely composed of college students, many of whom are earning credits for ECTC classes.

“It’s a theater that uses common household props and very slight sets in order to encourage children to use their imagination, and we do a show every spring at ECTC and then we bring schools in from all around that we invite,” Eicher said.

Toy Box Theatre has performed for more than 11,000 people, and you can catch their 24th production this Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $2 at the door and free for children 3 and under.

“This is a bargain,” Eicher said. “It is so much fun. This is, as I say, only 45 minutes long. Children love it. Adults will love it in the ways that maybe the children won’t, and you can’t really go see a show for $2 or less.”

Tickets for this family-friendly show are cash only.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet is reminding motorists to help protect themselves, their families, and their neighbors by using caution when driving through work zones as National Work Zone Awareness Week is recognized this week.

According to the KYTC, in 2023 Kentucky recorded 1,251 crashes in highway work zones which resulted in 247 injuries and 17 deaths, nearly triple the number of fatalities from the year prior.

KYTC District Four Public Information Officer Chris Jessie says the most important thing for a driver to do when on the road is pay attention.

“One of the main challenges in operating a work zone is distracted driving, and that’s not really anything new, and the phone continues to be that primary distracting factor for vehicle operators,” Jessie said.

The KYTC continues to try to implement safety measures in work zones, which come in many forms.

“The zones aren’t just those obvious big projects like we have going on at the interchange at Glendale or north of Lebanon Junction on I-65, but they’re mowing, they are striping when we’re repainting the road, patching a pothole, or replacing a pipe underneath,” Jessie said “So put that phone down, slow down, and pay attention to work zone signage. That’s for the safety of our crew that is out there working and our contractors, as well as your own as a motorist.”

Visit the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet on the web to learn more.