A Sunday afternoon fundraiser to benefit a Webb City fifth-grader who is in need of a heart transplant exceeded organizers’ expectations, taking in $10,747 for the family.
“We had a wonderful turnout, at least 400 people. It totally exceeded my expectations, let’s just put it that way,” said Wayne Medley, a committee member who helped secure bands, food and auction items for the event. “It was unbelievable.”
The event was staged at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 534 in Joplin, and it drew so many supporters that the parking lot was filled all afternoon.
Dylan Waggoner, who was featured last week in the Globe, was born with Ebstein’s anomaly — a rare congenital heart defect that occurs just once per 200,000 live births and accounts for less than 1 percent of all cases of congenital heart disease.
He is on the heart transplant list. The family’s bills are mounting after numerous trips to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and several open heart surgeries.
Friends and co-workers of Dylan’s parents arranged the fundraiser, which included chili and hot dogs, an auction and live performances by LiveWire and the Beer and Chicken Band. A group of motorcycle enthusiasts presented the family with a $300 check and announced that it would do an upcoming ride to benefit Dylan.
But it was Dylan who got the standing ovation Sunday afternoon after an impromptu musical performance with his father, Ronnie Waggoner. Ronnie Waggoner’s late father, Stanley Waggoner, was a longtime local musician who played at hootenannies at the A-TA Lodge in Carterville.
“Dylan got up and asked to sing ‘Kansas City’ with the Beer and Chicken Band, and his dad borrowed a guitar and played for him,” Medley said. “A little later in the show, he got up and sang another song with LiveWire, and he got a standing ovation. They were yelling, clapping — the crowd went wild.”
After a six-week stay this summer at the Mayo Clinic in which his health took a turn for the worse, Dylan responded to community support in a similar fashion, Medley said.
“When Dylan got back from Mayo, he requested his father take him to the hootenanny,” Medley said. “He walked straight up to the microphone — all on his own, no one told him to do it — and thanked everyone for what they’ve done for him. That’s just the kind of kid he is, the kind of family they are. I feel honored they allowed me to do this.”
Dylan stayed most of the afternoon at Sunday’s benefit.
“The little fella, I don’t know how he made it that long,” Medley said. “He got so tired, but he didn’t want to leave. When he did, they had to carry him out.”
Heather Collins, Dylan’s mother, said the response from friends, family and strangers was “so great it was overwhelming.”
“There were people I hadn’t seen in years, people I don’t even know,” she said. “It was great. You know people care, but then when it’s all right there in your face, it’s just — wow. It’s major. There will never be enough thank-yous in the world.”
Dylan’s fund
WAYNE MEDLEY, a member of the fundraising committee, reported that numerous donations have been deposited in the Dylan Waggoner Benefit Fund at Arvest Bank. The family also has a Dylan Waggoner Benefit page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dylan.waggoner.581.
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Nearly $11,000 raised for Dylan Waggoner's heart transplant
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