Ralston 5th grader raises $2,000 for grieving teacher

The bond between a Ralston teacher and her fifth grader is stronger than ever. Janice Rhods mourns her baby boy. He recently died from a rare heart problem. But about a month before, fifth-grader Adrianna Case provided considerable help. It’s been about two weeks since Rhods lost a huge part of his world. “I think of his smile. Honestly, I think of him now. in peace,” Rhods said. Her son Caden, aged 5 1/2 months, suffered from hypoplastic left heart syndrome. “His life was filled with pain and hospitalizations. He was happiest when he was outside, and he only had it for a few months,” Rhods said. “Of the five and a half months he lived, he was home for two of them.” In November, Caden came down with a cold that led to a fever and elevated heart rate. “Everything escalated very quickly,” Rhods said. Caden died on November 17. “A combination of all of that, they think his heart was just overworked. His heart was super, super fragile,” Rhods said. Rhods teaches fifth grade at Karen Western Elementary School. in Ralston. So far this school year, she’s spent a lot of time outside of class to be by Caden’s side. “You’re trying to be there for your son and my other two kids that I have at home and then I’m also trying to be there for my students,” she said. Rhods student Case noticed this difficulty about a month before Caden’s death and decided she wanted to do whatever she could to help. “I bought him a blanket and felt like it wasn’t enough, so I started a GoFundMe,” Case said. With the help of his mother, Case was able to create a GoFundMe, raising $2,000 for his favorite teacher. that would be fair, not $2,000. I thought it would just be a few hundred dollars,” Case said. For Rhods, the joy of it all is so much more than the money. “It’s more, what she did it to show her compassion and her concern for others. Because she showed it to me, I know she would do that to other people,” Rhods said. “I really love her,” Case said of Rhods. Rhods said that She would return to work on Monday. She said she didn’t think she would be able to get through it without her amazing students like Adrianna.

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