Tiah Smith and Caden

Caden Smith makes no secret of the fact he absolutely loves the water. It’s his body, though, that sometimes disagrees.

The 16-year-old from Andover, Kansas wasn’t supposed to live past the age of six. He has a severe life-threatening form of epilepsy known as Dravet Syndrome as well as autism, ataxia, a condition that weakens his core strength, and mobility challenges that make walking difficult and, at times, painful.

His mother, Tiah, admits that before his swim lessons started, the thought of handing him over to someone in the water was terrifying, especially since water can trigger his seizures. However, she knew how important it was for Caden to learn how to swim and to find someone who could get through to him and keep him safe. She and her husband made the decision to enroll Caden in adaptive swim lessons at the Dennis Schoenebeck North YMCA, bringing swim instructor Keith Braun into their lives. 

In the time since, the trust between Keith and Caden has grown considerably, with Keith’s specialized training and preparedness helping Caden when he has had seizures in the water. 

“The funny thing is that Keith’s name gets mentioned in our house far more times than I can tell you in a week. Caden loves Keith, and he loves his swim lessons,” Tiah said. “For Caden, he gets out of bed better, his entire day is better and he has something he looks forward to that is just his.”

Tiah may work as a Safety and Risk Manager for the Greater Wichita YMCA association, but when she takes Caden to the pool, she’s there as a mom. And this mom can’t say enough good things about the thoroughness of the personalized intake process, Keith’s skills and the entire North Y aquatics staff for “taking the time to have conversations that are so important for serving our family.”

In fact, Caden’s adaptive swim lessons have brought his entire family together. 

“In a lot of ways, Caden’s swim lessons give us hope for a normal feeling of life on Sundays,” Tiah said. “My oldest son loves to lift weights and work out. My daughter can go into the gym and play basketball. There’s not a lot of things we can do as a total family with the challenges we have, but we can all go to the Y.”