Zack Lankford, aged 11 of Story city, has a problem no child should ever have to deal with.
"He has a broken heart and he needs to get a new one," explained fifth grader Annika Weisberg, in a video posted to her parents Facebook profile.
Annika and her sister, third grader Brookly Weisberg, are patients of Zack's Mother, a nurse practitioner and their primary care provider at the Clinic where their Mother Ashley Bubeck also works. According to Bubeck, he is on the heart transplant list at Iowa City and Mercy in Kansas City.
When the sisters learned of the crisis facing their nurse's son, they resolved to try and help. They came up with a plan. They'd make and sell bracelets with beads they had, and to draw attention, they'd perform acrobatic flips and contortions along the side of the road. For which enlisted the help of some of their siblings, 3rd Grader Peyton Grace Bubeck, and Kindergartener Jax Bubeck.
At first, they set up at the Flowing Well. "But we only sold one there," reported Annika.
Then they decided to move their operation downtown, in front of the old Lewright's store on West Broadway, in the heart of downtown. There they'd sold 21 more by early afternoon, and sold the rest of their stock to a single buyer who related that as a child, he too had been helped through health crises by others, including kids like them, who raised money.
"A lot of people have donated money, too," Annika said. "We're trying to get $100 dollars today," she added, "But, we are also trying to get… all the money that we can get."
As for a goal, the kids said they were ultimately hoping to raise $2,000 or more, Brooklyn said.
"We were going to do lemonade, but then we were riding our bikes and it was like, 'how are we gonna carry all this stuff?' So we decided to just stick with the bracelets," Ashley said. However, they did end up also having saltine crackers for sale, because "we had them in the Deli and they were hungry," Ashley added with a laugh.
According to the Bubecks, a fund has been set up for funds raised for Lankford's heart transplant. Anyone interested in donating can contact Ethan or Ashley Bubeck, or leave a message for them care of this newspaper.
