For the 10th year, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has declared Wed., Dec. 4 as Pallister-Killian Syndrome (PKS) Awareness Day in Minnesota.  

PKS is a rare syndrome that affects Becker eighth grader, Andrew Schmidt, son of Nicole and Paul Schmidt of Becker.  The purpose of the declaration is to bring about awareness and education of PKS. 

PKS is a rare, genetic disorder resulting from the duplication of the short arm of chromosome 12, which occurs at conception with no known cause. Children with this syndrome suffer low muscle tone, seizures, global developmental delays and hearing and vision loss.

Fewer than 300 cases of PKS have been diagnosed in the world, but many doctors believe that the incidence of PKS is much higher and could be as many as 2,000 cases in the U.S. alone. 

Improper testing methods and lack of awareness of this condition are the main causes of undiagnosed cases and research, education and raising awareness within the medical community of PKS will aid in early diagnosis of children and benefit families and caregivers of children affected by the disease.

Wednesday, the Schmidts held a “Dinner with Andrew” event at Becker Pizza Depot and supporters of Andrew were asked to wear their black and red PKS shirts to show support of this cause.  Twenty percent of all pizza proceeds went to the PKS kids national organization.  

Saturday, Lupulin Brewing and Chow Restaurant are holding a four-course meal featuring Chow’s smoked brisket and Lupulin’s beer pairings at Lupulin Brew Pub in Big Lake. There will also be a silent auction and live music starting tat 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $80 with a portion of the ticket price — along with the silent auction proceeds — will be donated to Operation Christmas Jammies.

Operation Christmas Jammies involves an online giving tree commenced by the Schmidt family. The tree was launched as a way to spread awareness and give people who have a heart to help, but didn’t know how they could. 

Through the website, one can “sponsor” a child by gifting them Christmas Jammies.  It has turned into a small but sweet token of love for special PKS children all over the world.  While this program has been running for six years now, this is the Schmidt’s third year doing this project through a virtual website.

Last year all 97 families requests were filled. 

 The website for the giving tree is at: www.operationxmasjammies.com.