SCARBOROUGH — Kyle St. Clair, a
Scarborough boy who was the subject of an outpouring of community support over
the years, has lost his lifelong battle with lung and digestive disease.
“After 8-plus years of
fighting, our love doesn't need to fight anymore. Kyle William St.Clair passed
away here, at home, this morning with his family by his side,” wrote the
family, Jan. 8, on the Team Kyle Facebook page. “We can't say enough about what
joy this boy has brought to us in his short time on earth. So much love. Thank
you to all for the support you have given to him and to us.”
St. Clair's funeral was
held Monday at St. Maximilian Kolbe Church, Scarborough.
The Facebook posting
generated more than 2,500 replies in less than 24 hours, also praising Kyle’s
long battle though more than 45 surgeries. Brave” and “heroic” was the common
assessment in the messages of sympathy and support.
Born premature, Kyle St. Clair spent the first nine
months of his life in Maine Medical Center's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
That, however, was only the beginning of his struggles. As a toddler, he was
diagnosed with dysmotility, a disease in which the muscles of the digestive
system do not work properly. He underwent 14 surgeries by age 6 and still had
to have nutrients pumped into his body through an intravenous system.
More hospital stays followed and the Scarborough
community came together for several fundraisers over the last few years to help
Kyle and his mother Kate St. Clair traveling back and forth to specialists in
Boston and Columbus, Ohio, to treat his medical conditions, while her father
Mark stayed home with the families other children, Alexis and Jackson.
Kate St. Clair was elected
to the Scarborough Town Council in November, citing a desire to enter public
service as a way to give back to the community.
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