Meet Libby Wolff, a CPABLE Crew Kid

BISMARCK, N.D. ( KXNET ) — Mike and Kari Wolff were looking to expand their family and they were open to adopting a baby anywhere in the U.S. In May of 2014, Libby was born in Alabama, and her birth mom chose Mike and Kari to be Libby’s parents.

After baby Libby spent 3 weeks in the ICU, the Wolffs brought Libby home to North Dakota. Right after Libby Wolff was born, she began experiencing health complications.
At just 3 months old, she was diagnosed with Schizencephaly. It’s a rare brain malformation developed at birth that can cause clefts in the brain.

“Portions of her brain didn’t fully develop and she’s missing the corpus callosum, which is the center portion of the brain that helps connect your right and left and gets that communication barrier that happens,” said Kari Wolff.

This causes her to have struggles with epilepsy and cerebral palsy. Libby is also nonverbal and this can be scary for her parents because she has chronic respiratory problems, so she can’t communicate if she needs help.

Libby’s life has been filled with many doctors visits and her day to day is busy as well. She requires nebulizer and vest treatments three times a day. She is also fed food and meds through a g-tube. She also receives two speech and physical therapy sessions, one occupational therapy session, and two swim sessions each week. Libby is 10 years old now and on her 4th wheelchair.

“When they’re young, they grow fast. Just like you think of shoes, and how every parent is like ‘Oh my gosh, I have to buy you another pair of shoes. Well, this isn’t just a pair of shoes, it’s a $5,000 to $8,000-dollar wheelchair. That’s a huge financial burden for a lot of people and especially insurance can’t help cover it,” said Wolff.

This is where CPABLE comes in. CPABLE is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that aims to better the lives of children like Libby by offering financial assistance. CPABLE can help kids like Libby by buying their medical equipment like wheelchairs and lifts and paying for their therapies as well.
However, that’s not all they can help with.

“There’s even fun things, too, like bikes. Kids, you know, just because they have a disability of some sort, doesn’t mean that they don’t enjoy those fun things,” said Wolff.

Just like any 10-year-old girl, Libby still enjoys being active. Whether that’s a day of swimming or playing with her classmates. Libby is also an active member with the CPABLE kid’s crew. As a CPABLE crew kid, Libby goes out to fundraising events and interacts with community members as she showcases how CPABLE can help the lives of so many.

“Even though she’s not talking, she’s sharing and she’s doing something for the community and that’s what you love, right?” Wolff asks Libby as she holds her in her arms.

Since CPABLE is a nonprofit, they are always taking donations to help fund their cause. Donating is something, Wolff said, can be a small way to make a large impact on the world around you.

“CPABLE helps so many people and supporting something that stays local, you know who it’s going to, you know who these funds are going to. That’s huge, too. Knowing that you’re not just donating to some national thing. It’s local. It’s our people. It’s our families. It’s our community, so that’s what’s cool about it,” said Wolff.

Wolff said that Libby could have possible surgery on her feet as they head to St.Paul at the end of this month to find out.

If you would like to donate to CPABLE and their cause, you can head to their website .

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KX NEWS.