McCleskey Staff Lauded for Aiding Student

A physical education teacher and the school nurse at McCleskey Middle School were honored by the Cobb Board of Education this week for their efforts in attending to a student stricken during a fitness class last month.

The school board formally recognized teacher Carin Wilkes and nurse Becky Slade at Thursday's meeting, as they stood with eighth grader Jackson Leitch, 14, who is recovering from a stroke.

After he got off a treadmill during the class on March 4, Wilkes noticed Leitch sitting on the ground, complaining of a bad headache.

She called Slade, who identified what were signs of a stroke. He was rushed to WellStar Kennestone Hospital and later transported to Children's at Egleston Pediatric Center.

He was eventually diagnosed with primary central nervous system vasculitis, a rare condition that Egleston doctors discovered has afflicted only several hundred children around the world.

Jackson has been receiving speech, physical and occupational therapy at Children's at Scottish Rite Pediatric Center. During the board recognition, he thanked Wilkes, Slade, the McCleskey school community and the Cobb school district, and pledged, "as a native son of Cobb County," to make them all proud.

“The entire middle school has come together throwing fundraisers for him called ‘Action for Jackson’ and running bake sales,” his mother, Robin Leitch, told The Marietta Daily Journal in a recent interview. “It’s beautiful.”

Wilkes and Slade appeared on 11 Alive in another recent interview.