<div>Hi! If you don't know me, my name is Alexa Kate (AK for short), and I’ve loved skiing for as long as I can remember.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>My family has always been a skiing family, so as a toddler growing up in Truckee, California, they put me on skis as soon as possible. I started on the Tahoe Donner team when I was 3 years old and immediately fell in love. When I got older we moved away from Truckee, but we never stopped skiing. I joined the Palisades teams, starting with the Mighty Mites (where I later coached!) and then the SVST Development and Far West race teams.
</div><img alt="78070993_1707036199993588_r.jpg" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/78070993_1707036199993588_r.jpg" width="100%" />
<div>When I was 12, I was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease called Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (SJIA) also known as Still’s Disease. This means my innate immune system attacks my joints and organs, causing inflammation and damage. While my systemic involvement has been relatively well controlled by my medication, unfortunately my joint involvement has not. My joint damage has progressed to end-stage arthritis/ankylosis (fusing) and contracture of multiple joints, especially in my lower body.
</div><img alt="78070993_1707038822421806_r.jpg" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/78070993_1707038822421806_r.jpg" width="100%" />
<div>When I was first diagnosed, my right ankle was my only affected lower body joint. Skiing went from my favorite sport, to the only stand up sport I could participate in, as I was able to adapt my skiing to accommodate my non-articulating ankle. On land I needed a crutch to walk, but on the mountain I could ditch my crutch and fly away on skis. Ski racing was the one place I truly felt like everyone else, it was my escape from SJIA.
</div><img alt="78070993_1709596101428614_r.jpg" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/78070993_1709596101428614_r.jpg" width="100%" />
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Two years ago I experienced a severe disease flare that led to my disability to progress significantly. The rest of my lower body joints became involved (hips and knees), and the complications from the severe inflammation led to damage and contracture. My 2022 season ended early when I no longer had the joint range of motion to continue walking and — even more heartbreaking to me — to continue skiing. Almost overnight I went from gate training every day after school to having to learn how to adapt to life from a wheelchair. 
</div><img alt="78070993_1707038837616632_r.jpg" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/78070993_1707038837616632_r.jpg" width="100%" />
<div>That's when I started sit ski lessons at Achieve Tahoe. I was afraid that I could never ski at the level I used to before becoming a wheelchair user, but Achieve Tahoe, my local adaptive organization showed me that I was wrong. I spent the winter 2024 season dedicating myself to learning to monoski at the level I used to stand up ski. 
</div><img alt="78070993_1707040382838014_r.jpg" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/78070993_1707040382838014_r.jpg" width="100%" />
<div><span style="font-family:inherit;font-size:1rem;color:inherit;">As I was re-learning to ski, the idea of getting back into a race course kept me going. By the end of the 2024 season, I was able to join my old team for a spring slalom camp. It was incredibly difficult, but also reignited my love for racing. I knew then that I needed to get back to racing for real. </span>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I started my 2025 season at a camp for emerging adaptive racers, and learned a lot. I then spent my winter break training with my old team at Palisades and then with the National Ability Center's High Performance Team in Park City, UT. I competed in my first Para FIS North American race in February, and another in March, even getting my first podium, and managing my way into the top 5 women's National rankings in slalom. 
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Getting back into gates as a beginner again has been hard but also incredibly rewarding. I feel so lucky to be able to be doing the thing I had once thought was lost forever. 
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I have now set my sights on representing the US in the 2030 Winter Paralympic Games in the French Alps. It will be a long and hard road to get there, and an even more expensive one. Getting funding for sports is hard, but funding for para sports is often even harder, as the cost for an adaptive athlete is usually 10x+ the cost for their able-bodied counterpart. 
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I am reaching out to my community for your help in making this dream a reality. My plan is to start full-time training in the upcoming season, and I am raising funds for training, equipment, as well as travel and competition expenses.  Attached is a list of my current season and next season budget. I greatly appreciate any and all support you can offer -- anything helps.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Hope to see you on the mountain soon, 
</div>
<div><span style="font-family:inherit;font-size:1rem;color:inherit;">-AK</span>
</div>
<div>@alexak8te 
</div>

Kerry Ruth

Joan Blumenfeld

Courtney Murrell

Cheryl Veni

Anonymous

Tamar Halpern

Mark Murrell

Katharine Veni

Mohammad Mahdi

Aaron Myhre

Dennis Scheske

Filip Velicka

Help Alexa get back to ski racing!

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

currencyCode

Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

Native 11.3.0 and above

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

categoryGroup

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Help Alexa get back to ski racing!

Still $14,750 to go. Help us build momentum.