Landon's Running Chair
Donation protected
Our family is incredibly blessed to have Dino in our lives. Dino is a “24-weeker” micro-preemie triplet, now a 14-year-old ninth grader (what happened with the time?!). Dino’s real name is Landon. When he was a baby, Jared and Laura would call him Landino Bambino which later evolved into Dino. Everyone calls him Dino now.
Dino and his brothers were born at the Keesler Medical Center at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, MS (Jared is in the Air Force). At 23 weeks gestation Laura went into labor just as the gulf coast was evacuating for Hurricane Dennis. The doctors did their best to keep the boys from coming into this world too early, but after a week of labor, Laura had to deliver the boys for fear of infection. Dino and his brothers had to face many challenges being born at 1 pound 8 ounces each. Dino’s brother Preston was 1 pound 6 ounces, he was the healthiest of the three but returned to heaven on his second day of life. Dino and his brother Tyson to this day have been overcoming challenge after challenge, surgery after surgery.
After they were a few weeks old, Tyson and Dino were transferred to the New Orleans Children’s Hospital for heart surgeries. Shortly after that the boy's rode out Hurricane Katrina with the amazing NICU staff. After the levees broke and flooded New Orleans, Tyson and Dino were transferred to Baton Rouge where they would begin eye surgeries for their blindness. While in Baton Rouge they rode out Hurricane Rita. They were later transferred up to Michigan for more eye surgeries which proved to be unsuccessful and then moved again to their new base since they couldn’t go back to rattled Biloxi.
Dino had Retinopathy of Prematurity which caused him to go blind. In November 2017, just after Thanksgiving, he went into emergency surgery to have both eyes removed because they were causing severe pain from excessive pressure and bleeding. Since having his eyes removed, he is so much happier and is rocking some beautiful blue prosthetic eyes. Dino has become an expert at popping them out!
Dino has CP which makes it hard to walk. He can walk with assistance if you hold his hand. He’ll get there someday to walk on his own; we’re working on it. He is a hard worker.
Dino gets all kinds of seizures from his epilepsy. For treatment, he has been on the ketogenic diet since 2010, and it’s done a great job at lessening and controlling his seizures.
Despite all of his medical problems, there is one this that you can count on from Dino; a smile. He has the best smile and laugh. Dino is non-verbal, but it doesn’t take long to figure out what he wants if you spend some time with him. He brings joy and a smile to everyone that meets him and has a magic about him that can heal a broken heart.
Jared started to take Dino out on runs with him when he was three years old in his Tilt-In-Space Zippie wheelchair. Since then Dino has continued to go on runs with Jared, and the chair has grown along with him. Unfortunately, Dino has outgrown his Tilt-In-Space Zippie wheelchair so he can’t go on any runs with Jared now. Whenever Jared would get home from work and ask Dino if he wanted to go for a run, Dino would get super excited. Dino loves to be outdoors; he loves to feel the wind rushing past, he enjoys listening to music and all of the other sounds that nature brings along the runs. Dino gets so excited while running he will start laughing and flailing his arms and legs. His laughter is so contagious that he makes a lot of people smile along the running trails. Laura loves to go biking, and with The Blade, she will be able to hook it up to her bicycle and take Dino on her rides as well. Laura and Jared would love to get Dino The Blade Team Hoyt running chariot, a chair that will be safe and will grow with Dino. As an Air Force veteran racing along with his son in his wheelchair, Jared and Dino would love to follow in the footsteps of Rick and Dick Hoyt on The Blade Team Hoyt running chariot. We appreciate and are humbled by the generosity of many that have blessed us along the way. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jared and Laura
Dino and his brothers were born at the Keesler Medical Center at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, MS (Jared is in the Air Force). At 23 weeks gestation Laura went into labor just as the gulf coast was evacuating for Hurricane Dennis. The doctors did their best to keep the boys from coming into this world too early, but after a week of labor, Laura had to deliver the boys for fear of infection. Dino and his brothers had to face many challenges being born at 1 pound 8 ounces each. Dino’s brother Preston was 1 pound 6 ounces, he was the healthiest of the three but returned to heaven on his second day of life. Dino and his brother Tyson to this day have been overcoming challenge after challenge, surgery after surgery.
After they were a few weeks old, Tyson and Dino were transferred to the New Orleans Children’s Hospital for heart surgeries. Shortly after that the boy's rode out Hurricane Katrina with the amazing NICU staff. After the levees broke and flooded New Orleans, Tyson and Dino were transferred to Baton Rouge where they would begin eye surgeries for their blindness. While in Baton Rouge they rode out Hurricane Rita. They were later transferred up to Michigan for more eye surgeries which proved to be unsuccessful and then moved again to their new base since they couldn’t go back to rattled Biloxi.
Dino had Retinopathy of Prematurity which caused him to go blind. In November 2017, just after Thanksgiving, he went into emergency surgery to have both eyes removed because they were causing severe pain from excessive pressure and bleeding. Since having his eyes removed, he is so much happier and is rocking some beautiful blue prosthetic eyes. Dino has become an expert at popping them out!
Dino has CP which makes it hard to walk. He can walk with assistance if you hold his hand. He’ll get there someday to walk on his own; we’re working on it. He is a hard worker.
Dino gets all kinds of seizures from his epilepsy. For treatment, he has been on the ketogenic diet since 2010, and it’s done a great job at lessening and controlling his seizures.
Despite all of his medical problems, there is one this that you can count on from Dino; a smile. He has the best smile and laugh. Dino is non-verbal, but it doesn’t take long to figure out what he wants if you spend some time with him. He brings joy and a smile to everyone that meets him and has a magic about him that can heal a broken heart.
Jared started to take Dino out on runs with him when he was three years old in his Tilt-In-Space Zippie wheelchair. Since then Dino has continued to go on runs with Jared, and the chair has grown along with him. Unfortunately, Dino has outgrown his Tilt-In-Space Zippie wheelchair so he can’t go on any runs with Jared now. Whenever Jared would get home from work and ask Dino if he wanted to go for a run, Dino would get super excited. Dino loves to be outdoors; he loves to feel the wind rushing past, he enjoys listening to music and all of the other sounds that nature brings along the runs. Dino gets so excited while running he will start laughing and flailing his arms and legs. His laughter is so contagious that he makes a lot of people smile along the running trails. Laura loves to go biking, and with The Blade, she will be able to hook it up to her bicycle and take Dino on her rides as well. Laura and Jared would love to get Dino The Blade Team Hoyt running chariot, a chair that will be safe and will grow with Dino. As an Air Force veteran racing along with his son in his wheelchair, Jared and Dino would love to follow in the footsteps of Rick and Dick Hoyt on The Blade Team Hoyt running chariot. We appreciate and are humbled by the generosity of many that have blessed us along the way. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jared and Laura
Organizer and beneficiary
Mandy Hussey Kent
Organizer
West Valley City, UT
Jared and Laura Graham
Beneficiary