Christmas Comes Early

Girl Gets Early Christmas

Kayleigh Gurzynski, 4, was born with an extremely rare heart defect. She and her mother Melissa Persike have spent much of her life in and out of the hospital missing many important milestones.

"She has taught me one thing and that's never put off what you can do today for tomorrow because we don't know if we'll be in a hospital again tomorrow," says Melissa.

Kayleigh has never had a holiday at home. So more than 40 Edgar High School students visited the family to bring Christmas a little early this year. A moment that just for a day took little Kayleigh away from all her struggles.

The students brought along all the fixin's for a true Christmas celebration: presents, music and the holiday spirit.

"We have a fire truck over here and they're putting up lights and we're decorating the inside of her house a little bit the outside," says Edgar sophomore Alayna Hoesly.

Melissa says the hardest part is not knowing how much time they have left with Kayleigh. In the past 10 years, just four babies were born in Wisconsin with this deadly birth defect, and Kayleigh is the only one who's made it to 4 years old.