Aiden's Journey: Awareness and Hope

Taryn Skees is organizing this fundraiser.

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Taryn and Ricky Skees were expecting a healthy baby boy. Instead, on February 11, 2008, they were shocked when their second son Aiden was born with Apert syndrome, a rare craniofacial condition that affects the growth of the skull, face, hands and feet.

They were given a short printout that painted a very scary picture for their little boy. Throughout the first 2 years, they navigated this newfound "special needs" life as he underwent numerous surgeries, hours of intense therapy and spent his time in and out of doctors offices.

As time went on, they soon found that although Aiden had some physical differences, life was not nearly as scary as they had thought it might turn out. The Skees began a mission to raise awareness about Apert syndrome. They wanted others to see that living with this condition did not mean being unhappy.

Aiden's parents shared their feelings in a short-film documentary in 2010. This piece has been crucial in raising awareness, inspiring others and providing hope to families facing a new diagnosis of Apert syndrome.

Now that Aiden is 7 years old, we want to show how far he has come - he plays sports, has wonderful friends, goes to school - and maybe give hope to other families facing an Apert syndrome diagnosis.

In the next year or so, Aiden will undergo one of the most critical procedures addressing the proper growth and development of his face. His surgeon will attach an external metal frame from his forehead to his upper jaw and with the daily turn of a screw, the device will move his midface forward over an 8 week period of time.

Will you help us continue Aiden's Journey...and help provide awareness and hope? Each donation will help make that possible!

We want to have the same video production team provide an update on Aiden, as well as follow him through the process of the midface advancement. While they are graciously donating their time for this project, the money raised will cover flights/lodging for two videographers to travel to Dallas, TX with all their equipment at the beginning and end of Aiden's midface surgery.

Any remaining funds will be put into an account to be used on future projects following Aiden's Journey!

To see the full film, visit: www.aidensjourneythefilm.com