Three years ago, an 11-year-old Lexi Klugherz was playing dodgeball with her friends when she hyper-extended her elbow.

It should have been a normal injury.

It wasn’t.

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

Her central nervous system miscommunicated with her sympathetic nervous system and her brain couldn’t turn the pain signal off.

“It caused excruciating nerve pain running into her arm, like her arm is on fire — the skin is super sensitive, it has no use and no function because of the pain,” Lexi’s mom, Angie Klugherz said.

They took Lexi to the emergency room where she was referred to a children’s hospital in Minneapolis. There, doctors diagnosed Lexi with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome a form of chronic pain with no cure that’s not very well understood at the moment by doctors.

Treatment focuses on physical therapy and psychological pain management such as breathing techniques and yoga.

“It also works on desensitizing, trying to get your brain to know that your extremity is OK, literally like tricking your pain,” Angie said. “Her body was physically OK but her brain wasn’t able to recognize that her body was OK.”

For a bit, the syndrome went into remission. Lexi joined the Prior Lake High School gymnastics team last year. At the time, Angie told gymnastics coach Barbie Kass about the syndrome.

“Her mom was telling me she had this condition that had put her in a wheelchair before this, that she recovered from,” Kass said. “I didn’t really understand it.”

The first season went very well, Kass said.

“Very motivated, very talented girl,” Kass said. “She wants to try new things and learn new things.”

Then in January, the pain came back, starting in her foot. She couldn’t wear shoes as it was too painful. It spread to her abdomen, affecting her lungs and stomach, making it painful to eat, drink and breathe.

The family looked into treatment programs.

The Mayo Clinic in Rochester has an intensive, three-week rehabilitation program for children with chronic pain. It’s one of limited programs dealing with children and adolescents with chronic pain.

But, the program is very expensive and not covered by the family’s insurance.

“It’s hard to have doctors that don’t know what you have or what’s wrong with your kid,” Angie said. “It’s frustrating and it’s scary because you wonder who is going to be able to help you and where do you have to go to get that treatment.”

The Burger Bash

Once Lexi’s teammates heard about the issue, they wanted to help raise money to try and assist with the cost of the treatment.

“We thought having a benefit might be a good way to start,” Kass said.

The team organized a “Burger Bash” at The Pointe in Prior Lake on Sunday, April 22 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tickets to the benefit are $15, which include a burger and fries. A silent auction and raffle will also be held to raise money.

“There’s a spa day basket, there’s a relaxation basket, there are signed items by the Vikings, a homemade deck party cooler, truck boxes, welding helmets, all kinds of stuff,” Kass said. “We had each gymnast in charge of getting one basket, so each teammate would have a basket and each teammate would sell 10 tickets.”

More people contributed outside of the team as they learned about Lexi and her condition, Kass said.

Lexi has already started therapy, but Angie and Lexi plan to be there for the benefit. Therapy has started helping with the syndrome, Angie said.

“We’ve been able to bear weight on her leg and she’s been walking with one crutch, so it’s definitely amazing how well this treatment program is working not just physically, but emotionally as well.”

Even when the pain was too much, Kass said Lexi would be at meets and practices to cheer on her teammates. Now, her teammates will be able to be there for her.

“Some people kind of take advantage of ... something we do every day without realizing how difficult normal can be for someone else,” Angie said. “The gymnastics program is so encouraging and reassuring that she will always have that regardless of if she’ll be able to do gymnastics again or not, but knowing she has that support emotionally is amazing.”

Tickets can be purchased at the door. For those unable to attend the benefit, checks can be made payable to Alexis Klugherz but addressed to Barbie Kass at 7575 150th St. W. Savage, MN 55378.