Newport trash pickup back

Boy who started it battling Lyme disease

NEWPORT — In 2023 Zeke Stutzman, then 8, appeared before the Newport City Council to announce a trash pickup day he was starting for Community Earth Day. He went on to spearhead a drive that removed plenty of trash in celebration of Earth Day for the next two years.

That trash pickup is back this Saturday, April 18 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. This year’s event is the Saturday before Earth Day. People who want to participate can come at any time and should meet at the Stratton Elementary School’s east parking lot.

When Zeke appeared before the Newport City Council in 2023, he told them he was interested in picking up trash even in kindergarten.

“I’ve always been real passionate about trash and nature and the environment,” Zeke, now 11, told The Miner.

He said Saturday made sense for the trash pickup.

“It’s like, really logical to be on a Saturday because there will be no school, no work,” he said.

Zeke will be at Stratton Elementary Saturday.

“But I’ll also be out picking up trash,” Zeke said.

Zeke had to skip the 2025 pickup because of debilitating symptoms of what turned out to be Lyme disease, an illness transmitted by a tick bite, and three other tick-borne diseases. But it was years before that was discovered. His parents, Rachel and Matt Stutzman, took him to numerous doctors seeking treatment for the symptoms of the disease, which started appearing in 2022.

“We went to Seattle multiple times,” for medical diagnosis, said his mother, to no avail. The active youngster who did horse vaulting, played soccer and went hiking now finds himself using a wheelchair because he runs out of energy and can’t always use his legs.

“So like, until last year I would get sick for about a month, and my legs would get weak,” he said. Then last year the leg weakness was continuous.

He said he had to quit vaulting when his legs got weak.

There are many other symptoms, including stomach pains, insomnia, headaches and asthma, to name just a few. For four years his parents kept looking for a way to help him. They took him to 15 doctors and health care providers.

“Nobody thought to test him for Lyme disease,” Rachel said. “It was not on anybody’s radar.”

Part of the reason it was so difficult to diagnose was that Zeke’s symptoms would come and go.

“He would be sick for a month, then he would have a good month,” Rachel said. He couldn’t get medical appointments when he was experiencing the symptoms. This was during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rachel had been searching everywhere, including online, for a reason for the symptoms. She found a Canadian woman whose 7-year-old daughter was experiencing many of the same symptoms as Zeke. It turned out she had Lyme disease.

“Lyme disease is stealing my daughter’s life in front of my eyes,” the woman wrote in a Facebook post. “And the silence around it is just as cruel.”

That inspired Rachel to look into the possibility of Lyme disease, which is caused by a tick bite.

“I started following that Facebook page from Canada,” Rachel said. She thought that might be what Zeke had. She took a month to research tick-borne diseases and then found a doctor who treated Lyme disease, Dr. Julie Barter in Kalispel, Montana. The Stutzmans went to Barter, where they had a three-hour visit.

“We tested after that to verify,” Rachel said. The results arrived in mid-March, confirming the Lyme disease as well as borrelial lymphocytoma, a skin manifestation of Lyme disease.

The Stutzmans found a place to treat the disease in Fayetteville, Arkansas, at the Spero Clinic. The treatment takes 14 weeks, so the Stutzmans are raising money to temporarily relocate there. There is a GoFundMe site people can donate on.

In addition, there are a number of places where people can donate, including Vibin’ Hair, Nomad Coffee Company, Northwest Coffee, Black Rose Salon, My Sidewalk Cafe, Ivory Dental, Newport Vision Source, The Station, the Pend Oreille Playhouse and Heart and Home Northwest Realty.

The community has gotten behind the fundraiser, she said.

“Kelly’s Bar & Grill asked Zeke to put together a mocktail recipe for the kids’ menu,” Rachel said. “Kelly’s will then donate all the revenue from that drink through the end of May. Zeke’s favorite color is green, so he created a green drink and named it ‘Verde Oasis.’” If enough money is raised, the Stutzmans hope to make the trip soon.

“We’re hoping for summer,” Rachel said.

It can’t come soon enough, she said, with Zeke experiencing symptoms daily now.

“There in the beginning he was having good time,” Rachel said. “Now it’s just every single day without reprieve.”