Support girl born fighting for her life at upcoming wrestling camp

BLACKFOOT – Wrestlers in eastern Idaho can help a girl born fighting for her life by learning about and competing in the sport they love.

Registration is open for a wrestling clinic and tournament, Wrestle for Abby, scheduled for early this summer in Blackfoot. The funds raised from this tournament will support Abby Hayball, a girl from Pocatello who was born deceased and was revived after 15 minutes of CPR.

Abby is now three years old, and has autism, cerebral palsy, and chronic kidney disease, and will eventually need to receive a transplant. Abby’s mother, who takes care of her at home, and her father, who works out of town to support them, are in need of financial assistance, but appreciate any support people can offer.

“Even the people that are sharing the post or commenting on it, … just seeing positive words is enough for me. I don’t expect anything from anybody, and if somebody … wants to help us by showing up or sharing our post or donating a penny, I couldn’t even thank them enough,” Abby’s mother, Tylen Hayball, said.

Oscar Aguero, who’s organizing the fundraiser through his organization, Panthers Pinning for Miracles, first heard about Abby through a co-worker who knows Abby’s father, Kody Wellard.

“He gave me the rundown of what was going on, and I was like, ‘Okay, well, what can we do?’” Aguero asked.

When Abby was born via emergency C-section, she was only 27 weeks old. This medical emergency started with the death of her twin, Oakley, and could’ve resulted in hers and Tylen’s death as well.

Tylen drove herself to the emergency room because Wellard was working in Twin Falls at the time.

“She’s dying, and my heart rate is tanking, so I’m dying. … Oakley has already died. I’m all by myself. Cody’s completely out of town. I was all alone,” Tylen said.

When Abby was born, she only weighed one pound and eleven ounces, and her skin was “see-through” because she was so premature. Abby was kept alive in the NICU for over four months before Tylen and Kody could bring her home.

Today, Tylen estimates that Abby’s level of development is roughly equivalent to that of a 6 to 9-month-old.

“We’re still super, super far behind on a lot of things, but when you look at the whole picture … she was literally born deceased, and now she can scoot over and pick up a bottle and take a drink out of it if she wants, and she’s learning how to take steps,” Tylen said.

Every week, Abby receives physical, occupational, speech, and feeding therapy, and every three months, they travel to Boise for specialist care.

“We are a normal family that used to have two incomes, and now we only have one, and … we can’t get ahead. So what we hope is not to have anything (bad) happen. And that’s just not feasible,” Tylen said.

While Tylen and Kody were nervous about having Aguero organize Wrestling for Abby, he told them how important it is to him that Panthers Pining for Miracles helps them as much as possible.

“We want to help. It’s something little that we can do, and we can’t guarantee what the outcome is going to be, but we want to get your guys’ story out there,” Aguero recounted telling them.

Tylen expressed appreciation for Aguero in recognizing their need for community assistance.

“To see Kody as who he is, as the hard-working guy just trying to provide for his little family at home, and to see him and know that he could use some help, he could use a breath, I think that’s so cool,” Tylen said.

The clinic portion of Wrestling for Abby will take place at Snake River High School on June 25 and 26, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. And then on June 27, the tournament will start at 8 a.m. and continue, “until we get done.”

Kids as young as six can participate in the clinic, up to seniors in high school. People who have graduated from high school can participate, but the organizers ask that they bring their own wrestling partner.

Both boys and girls can participate in the clinic, and are coached separately. The boys will be coached by Jacob Holland and Santonio Thompson, while the girls will be coached by Sammy Lusk and Kenzie Williams.

“We have four amazing technicians that are coming down to help us (help Abby), and (help) our community with wrestling as well,” Aguero said.

No matter how much money Wrestling for Abby raises, Tylen said it would help ease their family’s financial burden.

“If we were to have any sort of something that we could put away for Abby … or (for) when her transplant comes up, … if we had something that could give us peace of mind to know that we would be okay, I think the biggest gift that that would give us is … a little bit of a breath, where we really had to hold our breath with her medically for a long time,” Tylen said.

Aguero hopes that as many people as possible will sign up to participate in the clinic. People who want to join the clinic can sign up through a Google form at this link, scan the QR code on the event flyer, or contact Aguero at 208-604-5320.

Admission to the clinic and tournament costs $125. The clinic-only costs $100 and the tournament-only costs $35.

“It’s hard. It’s hard on the family that if we can help take some of that burden away … it’d be phenomenal,” Aguero said. “If we can help take that burden off of them, even for a month, even for a week, it’s better than trying to fight it alone.”