Jillian's Racing Chair
Donation protected
I want you all to meet Jillian Byrd.
Jillian has been a member of runDisneyRun almost from the beginning. She shows up at all of the group meet ups and is a lot of fun.
She also has severe arthritis that affects her legs and hips. While she can move and walk slowly, the only way she can do the races she loves is in a push rim wheel chair.
I saw her on the course for the first time at mile 7 of the Dark Side half watching her struggle up one of the hills in this chair. If you have ever seen the real racing chairs, you know that this isn't one of them.
Until this morning, she has never said anything about this, but I approached her today and asked her what the cost is to get a proper racing chair. It turns out that the good chairs cost about $3000 and another $1000 for the individual customization. This is a cost that is out of her reach as a student. She is also not disabled "enough" to qualify for the various charities that help in this arena.
I think it is time for runDisneyRun to give back to one of our own. We are going to start a fundraiser to raise enough money to put Jillian into a chair that she can race in, instead of just "finish" in. I am going to start a gofundme for this effort, but I know that some folks have issues with that site, so will offer other options if anyone wants.
My goal is to reach $4000 soon enough to allow Jillian to have the chair built and let her train in it for Marathon Weekend, when she will be doing the half marathon.
And we will make her put an rDR sticker on the chair as part of the sponsorship deal. :) Oh, and if you nuts over in NTRD pitch in enough, we will put an #SIL on the chair too ;)
Who is willing to help? I will be putting my money where my mouth is and making the first contribution of $100.
Jillian has been a member of runDisneyRun almost from the beginning. She shows up at all of the group meet ups and is a lot of fun.
She also has severe arthritis that affects her legs and hips. While she can move and walk slowly, the only way she can do the races she loves is in a push rim wheel chair.
I saw her on the course for the first time at mile 7 of the Dark Side half watching her struggle up one of the hills in this chair. If you have ever seen the real racing chairs, you know that this isn't one of them.
Until this morning, she has never said anything about this, but I approached her today and asked her what the cost is to get a proper racing chair. It turns out that the good chairs cost about $3000 and another $1000 for the individual customization. This is a cost that is out of her reach as a student. She is also not disabled "enough" to qualify for the various charities that help in this arena.
I think it is time for runDisneyRun to give back to one of our own. We are going to start a fundraiser to raise enough money to put Jillian into a chair that she can race in, instead of just "finish" in. I am going to start a gofundme for this effort, but I know that some folks have issues with that site, so will offer other options if anyone wants.
My goal is to reach $4000 soon enough to allow Jillian to have the chair built and let her train in it for Marathon Weekend, when she will be doing the half marathon.
And we will make her put an rDR sticker on the chair as part of the sponsorship deal. :) Oh, and if you nuts over in NTRD pitch in enough, we will put an #SIL on the chair too ;)
Who is willing to help? I will be putting my money where my mouth is and making the first contribution of $100.
Organizer and beneficiary
David Thompson
Organizer
Melbourne, FL
Jillian Byrd
Beneficiary
