Sharing our heartbreaking story played a small role in Wishes Can Happen raising $213,946.00 over the 2 day Wish-A-Thon. That's enough to grant for than 40 wishes over the next year.
This morning, Emmett and I went to Wishes Can Happen's annual Wish-A-Thon. I was planning to go alone for a couple of reasons. First of all, this is a very hard thing to do and I didn't want to upset the kids or talk about Gavin's story in front of him. There's a silver lining to Gavin being so cognitively impaired. He's not really aware of how fragile his health is or how many times he's come close to losing his life. I have a very hard time talking about that in general but especially in front of him. Secondly, Gavin's not been feeling well and someone needed to stay home with him. Sharing our story and showing our support for Wishes Can Happen is very important to us. It's…
I wanted to take a minute and thank Wishes Can Happen and the Akron Zoo for a fantastic day. Wishes Can Happen sponsored today's trip for us and many other previous wish families. We got to visit the local zoo, meet other families who have been touched by Wishes Can Happen and have an amazing lunch. We all had a great time and truly appreciated the experience. For those who may not recall, Wishes Can Happen is a local wish-granting organization. They function on a local level and grant wishes for kids like Gavin, with life-threatening health conditions. Last year, they granted Gavin's lifetime wish of going to Lego Land in Florida. It was an amazing ten-day vacation and also happened to be the first family vacation we'd ever taken. I personally hadn't been…
Seeing the ocean for the very first time in their young lives. Unbelievable experience. I wanted to share the picture I took as the boys touched the ocean for the very first time ever. :-) So grateful to Wishes Can Happen for making this happen. :-)
I wanted to put all the pictures from our Wishes Can Happen trip to Give Kids the World in one place. People have suggested putting everything in one place because it's easier to view them all and refer back to if need be.
Things were going really well, especially considering all the issues associated with taking three kids with Autism on a fifteen or twenty hour cross country car ride. There are a few things that have proven to be understandably problematic but that's for another post. Unfortunately, Elliott is getting sick and at present is running a fever over 101.1°F. I'm not sure it's anything more than a headcold or possibly an upper respiratory thing. He's coughing, has a runny nose, sore throat and the above mentioned fever. I'm not sure what to do about this because we don't want to expose any of these kids to something. Some of the kids here are obviously very sick and the last thing we want to do is pass anything along to them. I'm…
It's been a crazy day so far, but a truly amazing one as well. I'm able to officially share that Gavin will be having his wish granted. The timing is up in the air at the moment but it will be as soon as Gavin is able to make the trip. We will be spending seven days in Florida at Give Kids The World Village. Weare getting tickets to all the parks there, including Disney, Universal, Kennedy Space Center, Lego Land, etc. All of this is made possible by Wishes Can Happen. The boys and I spent some time this morning at their 10th annual Wish-A-Thon. It's sponsored by 94.1 and WHBC, a local radio station. Gavin and I were interviewed on the radio. We shared Gavin's story and he did great.…