SCARBOROUGH – A mother’s love, the constant attention of medical professionals and now the support of the Scarborough community are all helping 6-year-old Kyle St. Clair fight debilitating medical problems.

Kyle, a kindergarten student at Blue Point School in Scarborough, has been fighting for his life for all of his six years. Born premature, Kyle spent the first nine months of his life in Maine Medical Center’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. That, however, was only the beginning of his struggles. As a toddler, he was diagnosed with dysmotility, where the muscles of the digestive system do not work properly. After 14 surgeries, Kyle has to have nutrients pumped into his body through an intravenous system.

During the last few years, Kate St. Clair has been traveling back and forth from her Scarborough home to specialists to treat her son’s medical condition, while her husband Mark stays home with the couple’s other children, 9-year-old Alexis and 4-year-old Jackson.

Now members of the Scarborough community are coming together to help the St. Clair family.

On Friday, March 11, from 7 a.m.-7 p.m., a spin-a-thon and walk/run event will be held at the KLF Training Gym, 40 Fengler Road in Scarborough, to raise money for Kyle and his family.

“I know the family. They live in my neighborhood,” said Sarah Cusson, a friend and neighbor who is organizing the event, dubbed “Miles for Kyle,” along with KLF Training Gym owner Katie Foley and fellow Scarborough parent Jill McFarland. “As neighbors we have tried to do things for the family, such as bring them meals or other neighborly things.”

“After a while,” she continued, “you want to do more. We, as neighbors and friends, can’t cure Kyle, so the next best thing we can do is raise money to help.”

After being approached about the fundraiser by Cusson, a client of KLF Training Gym, and hearing stories about Kyle and his family, Foley said she decided to donate the use of her space for the event.

“I wanted to help,” said Foley, who started her gym three years ago. “I don’t know the family, but thought this would be a great way to help them out.”

Foley said as a mother of three children, an 11-year-old, 10-year-old and 7-year-old, she feels for the pain the family is going through fighting for Kyle.

“It’s bad enough when your child has a cold. I can’t imagine dealing with what she has,” Foley said of Kate St. Clair. “Not only does she have to deal with a sick child, she also has to spend time away from her family.”

McFarland, whose son, Benjamin, is a classmate of Kyle’s at Blue Point, said she can’t imagine putting herself in the St. Clairs’ position.

“I feel for the family. I can’t imagine what they have gone through,” she said. “As a community we could be doing a lot more for the family, whether it be through financial donations, whether it be gift certificates for meal planning or anything else to make their lives easier.”

Foley said donations toward the event are already coming in. As of Feb. 28, close to $2,000 was already raised. While any donation will be accepted, Foley said, it is suggested participants raise $50 per hour of bike riding and $20 to walk or run the mile loop.

McFarland, who operates Moms in Motion, an exercise club for local mothers, will manage the 1-mile loop, which will run around Freedom Road.

The Miles for Kyle event, McFarland said, perfectly combines the two goals of her business – encouraging exercise and community service.

The goal, Foley said, is to raise at least $5,000 – the amount raised earlier this year through a fundraiser for the St. Clair family at Portland Pie Co. in Scarborough.

Outside of individual donations, there will be a number of donated goods and services raffled off at the event from Bei Capelli, Orthopedic Associates, Parise Speed School, Starbucks Coffee, Expressly Trends, One to One Body Sculpting, Creative Memories, Dora’s Delights, Ricetta’s Brick Oven Pizza, KLF Training Gym and The Meat House in Scarborough, among other businesses.

Joe Willette, general manager of The Meat House in Scarborough, said after hearing about the St. Clair family and the March 11 event, he wanted to contribute more than just a $25 gift certificate to the cause.

The Meat House will donate $1 for every pound of steak tips sold on Tuesdays from now until March 21. Willette said he expects the effort to raise between $300 and $500.

“It seemed like a great cause to get on board for,” said Willette. “We are happy to be able to get involved in the community we do business in and be there for our community.”

While the Scarborough store has never done such a fundraiser, it has been done at other Meat House locations, such as the store in Exeter, N.H., which has used a similar concept to raise money for the local school district. ?McFarland said she hopes the Miles for Kyle event will be the first of many for the St. Clair family.

“As awareness increases and we get the word out in the community, assuming this goes well, we’ll definitely be interested in doing additional events in the future,” McFarland said.

Two community events have been scheduled this month to help Kyle St. Clair, 6, in his fight with a debilitating gastrointestinal disease. (Courtesy photo)

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