Paddling for the Heart
Donation protected
My buddy Jake, & I have entered the craziness of the MR340. It's the world's longest non-stop river race to the tune of 340 miles on the Missouri River:.all the way from Kansas City to St. Louis July 8th-11th, 2014! I'm excited, nervous, giddy, obsessed (so says my lovely wife) & just ready for the challenge. My preparations began back in November and I'm itching to get on the water.
If you know our family, you know we are a LEGO family hence the picture of one of the amazing designs that Artist Nathan Sawaya created. I'm not very good at asking people for things like this, or writing things about myself & family, but it was a few good friends that motivated me to look at raising money during this crazy adventure of ours. Which brought me here:
Not long after returning from our family trip to Colorado in late 2012 we found out our youngest child (of four), Emi Lynn has Ventricular Tachycardia (V-Tach) which in short is a type rapid heart arrhythmia that can quickly lead to something no parent should have to even dream of:
After our first episode, facing the fear of the unknown, trying to understanding what V-Tach really is & how it ultimately will affect all our lives we've settled in & embraced the path that sits before us. Currently Emi takes medicine three times a day, every day to help prevent episodes but as we've learned it doesn't always keep her from slipping into V-Tach. This is something that she could have to take this medicine for the rest of her life, she could grow out of naturally, or once she's older we attempt to correct it with a surgical procedure and conceivably a pace-maker if all else fails. Talking about shocking or operating on your three year old child's heart kind of freaks you out. All that being said, if you know Emi, she's our Hulk baby:and there's nothing that slows her down!
Through this journey, we've been incredibly blessed with such unbelievable support from family & friends that have (and continue since we never know when it will happen next) helped us with each occurrence. It's kind of a "drop everything & head to the hospital now" while making phone calls for help along the way. The resilience of our other three children during these times is remarkable knowing Mom & Dad will be in & out, tired, stressed, cranky & just freaked out a bit each time:they don't get enough credit for helping or putting up with us during those times. It can't be said enough:.we couldn't do it without all of you!
Since 2012, we've made numerous trips to Children's Mercy Hospital (CMH) in Downtown Kansas City & as our daughter says, "have sleepovers with her Dr. Tisma" for days at a time while we work to revert her heart back to a normal rhythm & rate, adjust medicine, dosages & be monitored until Dr. Tisma and the Cardio team are confident her heart has returned to "normal operation" and she's stable. Emi loves "her" Dr. Tisma. It is this Cardio team at CMH that we've come to love, respect, admire and learn so much over the past months.
We'd like to use this race to in some small way try & give back to this amazing team & hospital that continues to give not just our family, but all families whose lives they touch each day. It is our hope that it will help the Cardiology team & Children's Mercy continue to do the amazing job they do for all the children you see in the rooms and hallways of Children's Mercy. It can really put one's life back into perspective when walking the hallways of a Children's Hospital ER, PICU & even the general recovery floors.
Any donation is greatly appreciated and all proceeds will go to CMH (minus the obvious fee's charged by this website). You can donate for any reason:including it just being a direct challenge to Jake and I that we will:or won't finish this amazing river race! Our boat numbers for the race are #0304 and #6975. We will have a GPS SPOT tracker at this webpage that will track our progress during the race so anyone can follow us (It won't show anything until I turn the tracker on the morning of 8/12 around 7AM). Just understand, no amount is to small when you think about the potential impact your donations could have on a child's life that today, or someday might find themselves fighting any battle just like Emi is:.well you just can't put a price on that. We thank each and every one of you!
If you know our family, you know we are a LEGO family hence the picture of one of the amazing designs that Artist Nathan Sawaya created. I'm not very good at asking people for things like this, or writing things about myself & family, but it was a few good friends that motivated me to look at raising money during this crazy adventure of ours. Which brought me here:
Not long after returning from our family trip to Colorado in late 2012 we found out our youngest child (of four), Emi Lynn has Ventricular Tachycardia (V-Tach) which in short is a type rapid heart arrhythmia that can quickly lead to something no parent should have to even dream of:
After our first episode, facing the fear of the unknown, trying to understanding what V-Tach really is & how it ultimately will affect all our lives we've settled in & embraced the path that sits before us. Currently Emi takes medicine three times a day, every day to help prevent episodes but as we've learned it doesn't always keep her from slipping into V-Tach. This is something that she could have to take this medicine for the rest of her life, she could grow out of naturally, or once she's older we attempt to correct it with a surgical procedure and conceivably a pace-maker if all else fails. Talking about shocking or operating on your three year old child's heart kind of freaks you out. All that being said, if you know Emi, she's our Hulk baby:and there's nothing that slows her down!
Through this journey, we've been incredibly blessed with such unbelievable support from family & friends that have (and continue since we never know when it will happen next) helped us with each occurrence. It's kind of a "drop everything & head to the hospital now" while making phone calls for help along the way. The resilience of our other three children during these times is remarkable knowing Mom & Dad will be in & out, tired, stressed, cranky & just freaked out a bit each time:they don't get enough credit for helping or putting up with us during those times. It can't be said enough:.we couldn't do it without all of you!
Since 2012, we've made numerous trips to Children's Mercy Hospital (CMH) in Downtown Kansas City & as our daughter says, "have sleepovers with her Dr. Tisma" for days at a time while we work to revert her heart back to a normal rhythm & rate, adjust medicine, dosages & be monitored until Dr. Tisma and the Cardio team are confident her heart has returned to "normal operation" and she's stable. Emi loves "her" Dr. Tisma. It is this Cardio team at CMH that we've come to love, respect, admire and learn so much over the past months.
We'd like to use this race to in some small way try & give back to this amazing team & hospital that continues to give not just our family, but all families whose lives they touch each day. It is our hope that it will help the Cardiology team & Children's Mercy continue to do the amazing job they do for all the children you see in the rooms and hallways of Children's Mercy. It can really put one's life back into perspective when walking the hallways of a Children's Hospital ER, PICU & even the general recovery floors.
Any donation is greatly appreciated and all proceeds will go to CMH (minus the obvious fee's charged by this website). You can donate for any reason:including it just being a direct challenge to Jake and I that we will:or won't finish this amazing river race! Our boat numbers for the race are #0304 and #6975. We will have a GPS SPOT tracker at this webpage that will track our progress during the race so anyone can follow us (It won't show anything until I turn the tracker on the morning of 8/12 around 7AM). Just understand, no amount is to small when you think about the potential impact your donations could have on a child's life that today, or someday might find themselves fighting any battle just like Emi is:.well you just can't put a price on that. We thank each and every one of you!
Organizer
Doug Robinett
Organizer
Lenexa, KS
