Adrift
anchors Ashore
‘Pure
Americana’
COAST WEEKEND
NORTH COAST • 3A
143rd YEAR, No. 2
THURSDAY, JULY 2, 2015
ONE DOLLAR
Son’s rare malady spurs statewide awareness
Condition could be fatal
without fast medication
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
An Astoria mother’s campaign to
raise awareness about her son’s rare med-
ical condition went statewide last month.
The Oregon Legislature passed two
bills this session supporting those with
adrenal insuf¿ciency, a genetic condition
that occurs when the body is unable to
produce enough cortisol, the stress hor-
mone vital to life.
Kirsten Norgaard’s 7-year-old son,
Tristan Norgaard, was diagnosed with
adrenal insuf¿ciency one week after he
was born. Since then, she educated her-
self and has advocated for more aware-
ness. The disease impacts 1 in every
10,000 to 18,000 children.
Motivated by her experience, Kirsten
Norgaard helped form the nonpro¿t Ad-
renal Insuf¿ciency United, or AIU, with
Eugene resident Jennifer Knapp, whom
she met through a Facebook group.
“What we are doing is trying to save
lives and trying to educate people about
his condition,” Norgaard said. “If we
don’t educate, nothing will change.”
Before pursuing state legislation,
Norgaard started her push for awareness
locally in Clatsop County. She recalls
about three years ago she happened to
From left: Tristan
Norgaard, 7, his mom,
Kirsten Norgaard,
and his sister, Faith
Norgaard, 9.
KIRSTEN NORGAARD
Submitted Photo
See MALADY, Page 7A
A LONG ROAD TO RECOVERY
A year later, Washington family tries to cope after tragic drowning at Long Beach, Wash.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Last July,
11-year-old
Lindsey
Mustread
drowned while playing in the surf
near the Bolstad beach approach in
Long Beach, Wash., with her cousin
and younger brother. In an interview
at her Port Hadlock home, their moth-
er, Brandy Boyd, 35, spoke at length
about her family’s struggle to come
to terms with the tragedy. She also
shared valuable insights about how,
and why locals should educate tour-
ists about local beach hazards.
‘She wasn’t
afraid of
anything.’
— Brandy Boyd
Mother speaking of her daughter
Lindsey Mustread who drowned while
playing in the surf
daughter ¿nd the right balance be-
tween being respectful and being true
to herself.
In ¿fth grade though, Lindsey
showed her family and teachers that
she could also be dedicated, responsi-
ble and wise.
“She really learned more about
who she was and what she wanted,”
Boyd said. “She’d still punch them
boys and chase them around, but she
knew her limits.”
Lindsey was passionate about
horses, and had begun working and
riding at a neighbor’s stable. It seemed
to do wonders for her restless spirit.
After she got her own horse, Phoenix,
she lived to spend time with it. She of-
ten said she couldn’t see the point of
showering, since she’d just get dirty in
the barn the very next day.
“She’d take her shoes off and clear
the entire upstairs of our house,” Boyd
laughed.
By NATALIE ST. JOHN
EO Media Group
PORT HADLOCK, Wash. — As
a little girl, Lindsey Mustread begged
her uncle to teach her to swim by
throwing her in cold, swift water. By
the end of that day, she was jumping
into the water by herself.
“She wasn’t afraid of anything,”
mother Brandy Boyd, said.
Lindsey loved thrill rides that
could terrify adults. Once, she talked
her way into a mutton-busting con-
test at a fair, even though she’d never
done it before. Last spring, she broke
her nose practicing softball one eve-
ning and still went out for the team
the next morning. When she decided
she wanted to join the football team,
her big brother, Willy Malcomson, 18,
couldn’t talk her out of it.
“It’s alright. If I get broken, they’ll
¿x me,” said the young girl, who had
proudly posed with a cast on her arm
for school picture the year before.
That unfaltering toughness and
bravery stayed with her in what turned
out to be the ¿nal moments of her life.
Lindsey’s quick thinking and grit like-
ly saved her 11-year-old cousin, Jor-
dan “Junior” Boyd, and her 10-year-
old brother, Kenny Mustread, when a
wave swept the three of them out to
sea on July 3, 2014.
With her ¿nal, heroic act, she
proved that she wasn’t just fearless;
she was selÀess, too.
‘It was that fast’
Bigger than she was
Blonde and rosy-cheeked with a
mischievous grin, Lindsey was brim-
ming with opinions, plans and dreams.
Life wasn’t always easy for the
family. Boyd, who is a paralegal, was
raising three kids, mostly on her own.
Willy had gotten into some trouble as
a teen.
But the family had a close circle
of friends and neighbors in the small
DAMIAN MULINIX — EO Media Group
Brandy Boyd sorts through photos of daughter Lindsey had spread out on her bed while working on a
project for Lindsey’s friends last month. Lindsey drowned off the Bolstad beach approach on July 3, 2014.
town of Chimacum. The idyllic rural
setting suited Lindsey especially well.
She and her friends loved climbing
trees in the cemetery, riding quads and
building forts in the woods.
Always con¿dent, Lindsey often
acted like she had life all ¿gured out.
She dispensed tough-love advice to
her big brother and mapped out a life-
plan for herself and Bryan Brook, her
sweetheart of two years.
She could be strong-willed and re-
bellious, sassing bus drivers and earn-
ing a reputation for a certain kind of
eye-roll. Boyd tried hard to help her
For a decade, Long Beach had
been the place where Boyd and her
kids went to feel happy and free.
In 2004, the family was going
through a rough patch. Wanting to
provide her kids with an escape,
Boyd searched for vacation ideas and
learned about the peninsula’s Fourth
of July celebration. The annual hol-
iday at Wildwood Campground be-
came a beloved family tradition that
drew more participants every year.
Last year, Willy decided to visit his
dad’s family in Illinois instead, with
a promise to join them the following
year. But nothing could keep Lind-
sey, Junior and Kenny away from the
beach. When they reached the edge
of the sand at mid-day on July 3, the
kids leaped from the truck and raced
toward the water, pausing just once
— Lindsey and Kenny knew that, just
like every year before, their mother
would want a picture of them when
the ¿rst frigid wave hit their skin.
See RECOVERY, Page 10A
Cannabis guru hopes to start coastal clinics
Believes oils have
healing properties
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Jon Marsh, a self-styled
cannabis consultant, said he
started treating himself with
marijuana after contracting
Gulf War syndrome while
serving as a U.S. Marine in
the ¿rst Gulf War.
By the time voters created
medical marijuana programs
in Washington state and Or-
egon in November 1998,
Marsh was a consumer, grow-
er and advocate of what he be-
lieves is a plant with amazing
healing properties.
“I’ve been doing it since
1993, trying to get it legal,”
Submitted Photo
Jon Marsh, a cannabis ad-
vocate, wants to start can-
nabis care clinics in Wash-
ington state and Oregon.
said Marsh, 47, who got into
cannabis extracts a few years
back.
Marsh, born in Astoria and
raised in Ilwaco, Wash., hopes
to open medical marijuana
clinics, called CannaCare
Centers, up and down the
Long Beach (Wash.) Peninsu-
la and North Coast. He wants
to start the ¿rst clinic in Long
Beach by August and one in
Astoria by fall.
Marsh, who is relocating
from California back to the
Paci¿c Northwest, said his
focus would be on providing
information about the medical
uses for cannabis and medic-
inal tinctures, oils and other
extracts. He said he has ac-
cess to lab-tested medicines
that have treated cancer, lu-
pus, Lyme disease and other
illnesses.
See GURU, Page 7A
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