Froid Public School Rallies In Yellow For Student, Spina Bifida Awareness
For Averi Nordlund, living with spina bifida means balancing medical appointments and hospital stays with the familiar activities of senior year: taking photographs for the yearbook, participating in FFA and planning for life after graduation.
Through it all, the 18-year-old Froid High School student has found support in friends, family and teachers who help her stay connected, whether she is at school or away receiving treatment.
“I have really good friends that support me and stay back with me when I can’t always participate in things,” Nordlund said.
Spina bifida is a condition that develops when the structures that form the spine do not close properly. It can affect the spinal cord and nerves, and its effects vary from person to person, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
For Nordlund, the condition affects how she moves through her day. She wears leg braces and has limits on how long she can walk. Some school activities require adjustments, and she usually spends physical education class working on homework.
When she cannot participate, her friends’ willingness to stay with her helps her remain part of the group. That everyday companionship is one of the ways classmates show they care.
Her medical needs also take her beyond Froid. Nordlund receives care from doctors in Kalispell and visits Mayo Clinic for regular checkups. She said she underwent surgery at age 12 and receives Botox treatments to help manage a bladder condition.
Over the past two years, she has been hospitalized about five or six times because of infections that did not clear up. Her most recent stay, a couple of months ago, involved two weeks of treatment in Billings.
Time in the hospital means time away from family, friends and school routines. Cards, flowers and gifts from classmates and teachers have helped bridge that distance.
“It means a lot to me to know that my classmates and teachers support me, especially when I would receive cards, flowers and gifts from my classmates while in the hospital,” she said.
Some of her favorite messages came from the second graders she works with as a teacher’s assistant.
“I especially loved when I received cards from my second graders that I am a teacher’s assistant for,” Nordlund said.
Froid Public School also showed its support by wearing yellow, the ribbon color for spina bifida. The gesture offered the school community an opportunity to recognize Nordlund’s experiences and bring attention to the condition.
Alongside treatment and the adjustments, she makes each day, Nordlund continues to pursue interests that keep her involved in school and farm life.
She has been an FFA member since seventh grade and enjoys showing livestock at the fair.
“I love FFA,” she said. “I showed livestock at the fair last year and plan to again this upcoming summer.”
She also takes photographs of school sporting events for the yearbook, helping capture the moments that become part of her classmates’ memories.
Home is her family’s farm about 12 miles east of Froid. She is the daughter of Britney and Keith Nordlund and has two siblings: Alyssa, 22, and Jake, 16. Away from school, she enjoys spending time with her family and Rosco, her 2-year-old miniature Australian shepherd-corgi mix.
After high school, Nordlund plans to attend cosmetology school in Wyoming, where she hopes to focus on hair and nails.
As she prepares for that next step, the support she receives in Froid continues to mean a great deal. It reaches her through school-wide gestures, friends who keep her company and cards from younger students — connections that help her feel close to home even when treatment takes her miles away.
