Hello!

We would love to invite everyone to join Addison’s Crusaders for this year’s Easter Seals Walk with Me!

Addison was born with Vacterl association which affects her heart, kidneys, digestive tract, arms/hands, and spine. Her most life-threatening concerns have been with her heart defects. She spent her first 6 and a half months of life in Arkansas Children’s Hospital where she underwent several surgeries and received treatment for multiple medical problems including infections, seizures, strokes, and cardiac arrest. Lying in a hospital bed on and off the ventilator for so many months, along with her physical disabilities resulted in several developmental delays.

Addison has been receiving physical, occupational and speech therapies at Easter Seals since we moved back to Benton in July, 2008. She also attends their child care program along with her twin brother Jagger. And their baby sister Katelyn will join them next month. Highly trained teachers along with a registered nurse provide Addison with a wonderful learning environment while paying special attention to her medical needs. Addison first started the child care program wearing oxygen, on a continuous pulse ox machine, completely tube fed, and with a colostomy bag. We have since had surgery to reverse the colostomy, but she still requires the oxygen and feeding tube. I feel so fortunate to have a place that is not only well equipped to care for her special needs, but is also exceptional at doing so.

All of her therapists and teachers have been wonderful. After only six weeks of therapy, Addison achieved two major milestones. First, she learned to roll from her stomach to her back which gave her a lot more mobility. Shortly after, she was able to sit without assistance. Within the last year, Addison has made even more progress. She can now scoot all over the house, pull up to standing with assistance, manipulate more with her hands (missing both thumbs), and is drinking and learning to eat! I am amazed at the progress she has made since being with Easter Seals. This organization has been a blessing to us, and we look forward to watching her reach so many more goals.

This year’s walk will be held on Saturday, September 12th. We would love for you to join us as we participate in the Family Fun Walk, walking along side of us or cheering us on from the sidelines. There will be lots of food, fun, and activities for the kids. This is a wonderful way to help support other children like Addison and adults as well. Please help us give back to Easter Seals for all they have done for Addison. Last year Addison’s Crusaders had a wonderful turn out and with the help of many generous sponsors raised over $1700! This year we hope even more of you will be able to join Addison’s Crusaders and help us meet our new goal of $2500.

You can join our team by simply clicking on the join option under the team roster to register for the walk. If you are not able to join us for the walk, please show your support for Addison by making a donation to help her reach her fundraising goal. To do this, click on Addison’s name at the bottom of this page. On the next page, click on the “support me” button. Any gift is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for sponsoring our little miracle! We look forward to seeing all of you September 12th.

Jill