Kansas teacher, coach and advocate wins on ‘Wheel of Fortune’

A teacher and coach in the Hoisington school district won big on television’s “Wheel of Fortune” game show.

After besting the other two players, Kiley Klug was able to solve the final puzzle of “CHECK YOUR INBOX” in seconds. Host Vanna White smiled and applauded as Pat Sajak opened the card showing that Klug had won an additional $40,000, bringing her total to $61,510.

The episode aired Friday night with much fanfare in her hometown of Odin, which has a population of around 130. Dozens of people at Odin Store’s watch party cheered as Klug got the final answer before being hugged by her family, according to a post on Facebook.

“Congratulations Kiley Klug,” Explore Great Bend, where Klug is from, posted on Facebook. “Big win and you represented us so very well.”

““I had an insane amount of support through this process,” Klug said Sunday. “My friends, family, and acquaintances have been so complimentary.”

Klug teaches seventh- and eighth-grade English at USD 431. She also coaches girls’ middle school basketball and high school softball.

Getting on “Wheel of Fortune” was a bucket-list item that took several years of applying, according to a story in the Great Bend Tribune.

She told the newspaper it was a “total God thing” that the Dravet Syndrome Foundation asked her to do a presentation and gave her nearly the exact amount of money needed to fly her family to California for the show.

The newspaper said in a March 28 article that Klug and her husband, Gavin Klug, have three boys: 16-year-old Owen, 13-year-old Dexter and 10-year-old Blake.

One of their sons has been diagnosed with Type I diabetes; another with a syndrome similar to Dravet Syndrome. It’s made Kiley Klug an advocate for both.

She has testified before the Kansas Legislature for medical cannabis, such as hemp oil, for people who could benefit medically from it, including her son Owen, who has a syndrome that shares qualities with Dravet Syndrome and has to use a wheelchair.

Dravet Syndrome is a genetic, degenerative syndrome that causes seizures.

Owen started having seizures when he was 6 months old, sometimes having as many as 200 a day, the Kansas City Star reported in 2016.

“If you would have told us we would have to go down this road 20 years ago, I would have said nope, no way, never,” she told the Great Bend Post last year. “But when you love someone, and you do your research, and you’re all in as a parent, this was the only path we had available to us. You don’t understand it until you have to live it.”