As they bustled into class, proudly wearing baseball caps and pajamas, students at the Norwood Elementary School had no idea how big their small gesture was to one local family.

“I couldn’t believe how much money they raised,” said Jean Pietrantonio.

Pietrantonio helped her son Daniel and the rest of the school’s sixth grade community service group organize a dress down day fundraiser at the school for former Norwood student, Kayla Gilbert.

Gilbert, 22, is awaiting her second double lung transplant in less than two years.

“It felt really good that they wanted to help out,” Gilbert said yesterday.

All proceeds from the Dec. 22 fundraiser will go to help with Gilbert’s medical expenses.

Pietrantonio and Gilbert used to be neighbors and she remains close with Gilbert’s mother Karen Boschetti.

Students that wanted to participate were asked to bring in $1 to wear pajamas, $1 to wear a hat, or $2 to wear both. The 270 students in the school raised $850.

“I thought a couple hundred dollars would be good, I can’t believe how much they raised,” said Pietrantonio.

Gilbert suffers from cystic fibrosis, an inherited disease that causes thick, sticky mucus to build up in the lungs and digestive track. It is the most common lung disease in children and young adults.

Gilbert received her first transplant in February of 2008. The transplant seemed to be a success for the first year and a half but sadly her body began rejecting the new lungs over the summer.

“My breathing had been decreasing since May, they did a biopsy in June and by the end of August they determined my body was rejecting them,” said Gilbert.

Now Gilbert is forced to go to Cleveland to attempt another transplant.

“She can’t go back to Boston for another transplant because she didn’t make it to the two year mark,” said Gilbert’s mom.

Gilbert’s first transplant was done at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, but the facility has strict guidelines on when they will do a second transplant on a patient. Gilbert’s options were either Cleveland or Pittsburgh. She chose the Cleveland Clinic.

“It’s reassuring because they are the biggest program in the U.S.,” said Gilbert.

There is a lot of land surrounding those cities, so there is a higher increase in fatalities. An increase in fatal accidents, leads to an increase in organ donations.

“It’s the eerie stuff that you start to think about, like prom season and holidays have more catastrophes so that is when you are more likely to find a donor,” said Boschetti.

A suitable donor for Kayla has to match blood type, body cavity size, past infections and be a non-smoker. If Gilbert’s situation begins to deteriorate they will expand the search parameters to include smokers.

“She needs to be listed fairly soon because her lung function was 33 percent in November and it was down to 27 percent a couple of weeks ago,” said Boschetti.

While Gilbert’s transplant will be covered by insurance, there are many other expenses that will not be covered.

“If they have a donor, the hospital sends a plane to T. F. Green to pick us up, that costs $5,000 out of pocket,” said Boschetti.

During Gilbert’s first transplant process she had two false alarms that required her to go to Boston. There is no telling how many false alarms she may have in Cleveland.

After her transplant has been completed and Gilbert is discharged from the hospital, she has to remain in the Cleveland area for almost three months for follow-up appointments.

While Gilbert was in Cleveland for a standard three-day testing in November, doctors discovered a blood clot in her artery and she was forced to turn her three-day stay into two weeks, which overlapped Thanksgiving.

“We’re homesick but it’s not as bad with connections and contact to home,” said Boschetti.

Kayla seemed especially upset about leaving her dogs in a kennel for so long.

“I think she loves the dogs more than people sometimes,” Boschetti jokes.

Gilbert was studying animal science at the University of Rhode Island until she underwent her transplant.

“The transplant people don’t want me working with animals because they don’t know enough about zoological diseases yet,” said Gilbert.

Saddened by the idea of not finishing her educational path right away, Gilbert shrugs it off and says she will change her major to phlebotomy for now. She plans on asking the doctors in Cleveland if it will be okay for her to take one or two classes after the transplant.

“We found a hotel in Cleveland that is dog friendly, so she is very happy about that,” said Boschetti.

Kayla’s family is holding a raffle to raise money from now until Jan. 5. People can purchase tickets for $20 at Suburban Pharmacy, 242 Pawtuxet Ave. The prizes are: 1st place $2,500, 2nd $1,500 and 3rd $500.

“People ask me how come we are giving so much money away when we are trying to raise money, but we have had a lot of donations and people need to see a prize worth winning,” said Boschetti.

She went on to say that many people have told her if they won, the money would stay with Kayla anyway. A foundation has been set up in Kayla’s name at Citizens Bank, called ‘The Kayla Gilbert Foundation Fund,’ so people can donate directly if they want to.

“I want to thank everyone for everything they have done,” said Boschetti.