#WolfCountry

Beth Dugas says the best word to describe her daughter Madison is “sassy.”

“Even people that haven’t met her that just know her story and follow her Facebook page or, you know, if you’ve ever met Madison in person, she’s very unforgettable,” Dugas said. “You won’t forget Madison.”

Madison’s spunky personality has been prevalent in her health battles, which began at an early age with two open heart surgeries in her first ten weeks and a heart transplant at seven months. Most recently, lung issues have resulted in a hospital stay that has now gone past seven weeks.

“They finally did a biopsy on her lungs and found out something that they weren’t expecting,” Dugas said. “She has, they call it pulmonary hemosiderosis, and there’s no cure per se. There are a couple potential treatment options like high-dose steroids and she’s gotten an IVIG treatment, but otherwise there’s really no cure. Just kind of have to maintain.”

Doctors have ruled out a lung transplant at this time, but more surgeries are likely on the horizon in order to address other issues.

“The pulmonary vein is another issue that she’s going to need to have resolved somehow, some way in the future because that pulmonary vein is just going to continue to narrow, and they can go in and open it up through a cast but she needs to have an open heart surgery to fix that,” Dugas said.

As the family navigates Madison’s battle, Dugas says they have felt the support of family, friends, and community, including a GoFundMe titled Miracles for Madison and a tote bag fundraiser.

“Both of our moms are very, very involved, and they help a lot with our son because he’s seven and we try to keep his routine as much as possible through all of it, and then just more friends than we could ever imagine,” Dugas said. “I said ‘I think that like all of Hardin County has been praying for Madison.’”

Updates on Madison’s journey, along with links to the GoFundMe and info on the tote bags, can be found on the Miracles for Madison Facebook page.

Elizabethtown Community and Technical College’s Toy Box Theatre will present Silly Tales From the Toy Box, a story of silly people and animals, this Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at ECTC’s Science Auditorium.

“This one’s called Silly Tales From the Toy Box, and I always adapt and write most of the plays, and so this one is one I did too,” said ECTC Communications and Theatre Professor Katrina Eicher, who founded Toy Box Theatre in 1998. “I adapted it from several different sources, and we usually run about 45 minutes so that young children’s attention spans aren’t, you know, taxed too much, and it’s very silly and it’s very funny.”

The cast is entirely composed of college students, many of whom are earning credits for ECTC classes.

“It’s a theater that uses common household props and very slight sets in order to encourage children to use their imagination, and we do a show every spring at ECTC and then we bring schools in from all around that we invite,” Eicher said.

Toy Box Theatre has performed for more than 11,000 people, and you can catch their 24th production this Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $2 at the door and free for children 3 and under.

“This is a bargain,” Eicher said. “It is so much fun. This is, as I say, only 45 minutes long. Children love it. Adults will love it in the ways that maybe the children won’t, and you can’t really go see a show for $2 or less.”

Tickets for this family-friendly show are cash only.

The deadline for Kentucky voters to register for the May 21 primary election is less than a week away.

“April 22 at 4 p.m.,” said Hardin County Clerk Brian D. Smith. “That is the deadline to register to vote to participate in the May primary, so we want to make sure, especially the folks who have newly moved here to Hardin County, and we see that a lot in our growing community, come on in and register to vote.”

The April 22 deadline is for new registrations, as previously-existing registrations had to be set to their current party affiliation by December 31.

Smith says if you are eligible to register, come on down.

“You can stop by the clerk’s office, you can do it at govote.ky.gov, or you can call our office at 270-765-6762,” Smith said.

Smith says with 2024 being a presidential election year a larger turnout is expected, so the county is preparing by adding extra machines to larger voting locations and expanding options.

“Last year we had 12 locations,” Smith said. “We’ve expanded to 15 to kind of fill in some of the gaps in our community where we felt like we needed to add additional locations to make it easier for folks to vote. The three new ones are Cecilia Valley, Heartland Elementary, and then Glendale Christian Church.”

Visit www.govote.ky.gov for more election information.

The Elizabethtown Police Department is inviting area families to an awareness event Wednesday.

“In acknowledgement of April being Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Awareness Month, we are hosting a Chalk the Walk event at the police department this coming Wednesday between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. in an effort to raise awareness and put a stop to these heinous crimes,” said EPD Public Information Officer Chris Denham. “Citizens will be provided with sidewalk chalk as well as a space to draw murals or slogans that show their support for victims. Juanitos Tacos will be on site and dinner will be provided free of charge to all participants. In the event of inclement weather, we will move the event into the lobby of the police department and the art will be drawn on large poster boards.”

The EPD says that statistics show that nearly 2 in 5 women and 1 in 5 men will experience contact with sexual violence in their lifetime, and Kentucky is ranked sixth in the country for child victims of maltreatment at a rate of 14.7 per 1,000 children, nearly double the national rate.

More information on the event can be found on the Elizabethtown Police Department Facebook page.