Fourteen-year-old Patty Barton, or Patty Sue to her dad, has had the ‘typical’ teenage relationship with her parents, she said. There are ups and downs, but she always expected her parents would be there.
That is until November 2024, when her dad suffered a heart attack. A shock to her family of six. Her father, Zach Barton, stayed in the hospital for 11 days and underwent triple bypass surgery.
“After Dad’s heart attack, he and I got a lot closer,” Patty said. “I realized I wasn’t going to take things for granted anymore.”
Patty has been in Girl Scouts since kindergarten and is preparing to receive her Silver Award, one of the highest achievements in Girl Scouting involving a community issue that requires at least 50 hours of volunteer service.
Patty’s project is one she advocated for following her father’s heart attack. When he was in the hospital, she overheard doctors tell him he needed to pick up a low-impact sport, and biking fit the criteria. Her project, a Dero Fixit Bike Repair Station installed in Powers Lake Park near their Woodbury home, is a spot where bikers can stop and fill their tires, fix a flat or adjust about anything on a bike.
“I wanted to do this and dedicate it to my dad because he scared me there for a while, that he wasn’t going to be able to keep his promise to me and walk me down the aisle,” Patty said, tearing up, as her father went to hold her hand.
An unexpected hospital stay
In early November, while doing yard work, Zach Barton felt a sudden pain in his chest. A few days after visiting the emergency room, he experienced a mild heart attack.
The heart attack came as a surprise, he said. He’d always been healthy, eaten better than the average person, exercised regularly, never smoked and wasn’t diabetic, so it wasn’t caused by any of the things people tend to associate with heart attacks, he said.
What he does have is familial hypercholesterolemia, a genetic disorder that causes high cholesterol in the body, which is what ultimately led to the heart attack.
For 11 days, Barton stayed in the hospital, missing Thanksgiving with his family, he said.
“Healing was a slow process for eight weeks,” he said. “I couldn’t lift above 10 pounds. I had to sleep kind of upright and anytime that I coughed, it hurt ever so bad.”
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Patty, who believes herself to be a ‘model Girl Scout,’ someone who is a go-getter, innovator, risk-taker and leader, had her heart set on her Silver Award project for months before the heart attack. Her first few ideas: outdoor classrooms for local schools. However, three separate times, her projects fell through.
When her dad was in the hospital, her priorities changed.
“I had given up hope on my silver,” Patty said. “I was like, ‘I’ve already gotten three rejections, Dad’s in the hospital, this is the last thing I need to be worried about right now.’”
Until she overheard that conversation between her parents and her father’s cardiologist, who recommended a low-impact sport.
“Biking is a form of low-impact exercise,” Patty said.
The Fixit Bike Repair Station
When Patty was younger, she and her family would bike together regularly, and during the early years of the COVID pandemic, they even committed to biking 100 miles together one season, resulting in the grand prize of a family visit to Chuck E Cheese.
Reminiscing on the memories she had of biking with her dad, the idea for the Fixit station came to Patty, as she’d seen one at a national park many years ago. She presented the idea to her troop leader (her mom, Joanna) and explained why exactly her idea was important.
“This bike Fixit station is there to help the community and to make sure that other girls can continue biking with their dads,” Patty said.
The repair station includes ‘all the tools necessary to perform basic bike repairs and maintenance,’ according to Dero. Tools attached to the station can change a flat tire, adjust brakes and derailleurs, fill tires with air, assist in changing seat levels and more. The station also includes a QR code that can be scanned to explain use and provides a map of all other Fixit stations in the state.
While there is one other FixIt station in Woodbury, Patty said, it’s all the way in Carver Lake Park, on the opposite side of town.
“I am hoping that there will be more of these in Woodbury because Woodbury is extending their trails,” Patty said. “I am hoping that there will be more of these because I’ve been in a sticky situation where I don’t have a bike pump on me or I’ve thrown a chain while mountain biking.”
A stronger father-daughter bond
After being released from the hospital on Dec. 1, 2024, Zach Barton said all four of his children were by his side, every step of the way.
“Any time that I would call, or if they were within 10 feet of me, and they saw that I was in pain, they’d come and squeeze my arm and latch onto my arm until I finished coughing, bring me my heart pillow, bring me water, bring me whatever it was, and say, ‘Dad, are you okay? Is there anything else that you need?’”
Patty, whose birthday is Dec. 19, said she was happy that her dad was able to be there to see her turn one year older, and that the two could continue their tradition of hanging Christmas lights together. Except this time, when her dad tried to leave the house, she would yell at him to go back inside and rest. It was out of love, she said, as his close friends were there to help hang the lights while he watched in support.
Now the family takes turns going on daily bike rides with their dad, something Patty said she’ll never again overlook.
“I’m trying to prioritize health, I’m trying to prioritize diet, so it gives me the best chance for longevity,” Zach Barton said. “All four of these amazing kids and my wonderful wife are there helping me.”
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In the spring, Patty will receive her Silver Girl Scout Award for her Fixit bike station project, which she paid for using money she’d saved from selling Girl Scout cookies. The station itself cost $2,200, a couple of years’ worth of cookie sales. The city paid for the concrete pad and installation, her father said.
“I think she did an amazing job. I think it was worth Gold,” 10-year-old brother and Boy Scout Danny Barton said. “If I were a Girl Scout, I don’t think I could do a better solo project.”
Recently, Patty was sent a Facebook post from a Woodbury resident who’d snapped a picture of the station and captioned it, ‘Thank you to whoever did this. I got a flat and I really appreciate it.’ The post brought a smile to her face; it wasn’t just helpful for her family, but for her broader community too.
