Many of you reading this are probably friends and family, so you know the crazy running journey that my son and I have been on for the last 22 months. For those of you who are new here, I’ll give you the “cliff notes” version. My son and I started running together in May of 2010, with a goal to get healthy, but mostly just to have some quality father-son time. So far, we’ve run about 1,200 miles together, and also finished a few “milestone” races including our first 10k, our first 1/2 marathon & our first marathon.
In a couple of months we are going to be running our first ultra marathon: The SweetH2O 50K at Sweetwater Creek State Park in Lithia Springs, Ga. It promises to be 31.75 miles of beautiful trails and brutal hills! We have been training hard for it and I am confident we will be ready.
Over the past two years, my son has surprised me many times with the grit and determination he has shown while training for these races (at 13, he was the youngest finisher for the Charleston Marathon this year). Now he has surprised me again, this time with his compassion. After being inspired by David Goggins, He has decided he wants to use this race to raise awareness and funds for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the Children’s Hospital at Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah, Ga.
Christian – 3 lb, 11 oz
In May of 1998, Christian and his twin sister, Johahna were born at MUMC at about 32 weeks gestation. We were very blessed that they were relatively healthy for being two months premature, but due to their size and development, they were required to remain in the NICU for about 4 weeks, and in the hospital another two weeks before being healthy enough to come home.
It was an emotional roller coaster during those six weeks, but I can’t overstate how amazing the doctors and nurses were, caring for our twins. The peace of mind we had each evening that we returned to the Ronald McDonald house, knowing our twins were in capable, caring hands was what helped us sleep at night. We also know that we owe so much of how well they are doing now (13 years later) to the excellent care they received in those first few weeks.
Christian has come a long way since then, and now he has decided he wants to give a little back. About three years ago, the Stephen and Matthew Huffman Neonatal Enrichment Fund was set up by Stephen and Matthew’s parents. You can see their story here. This fund provides care items for use in the NICU and to parents for home care: rocking chairs, bouncer seats & toys for the babies to help with cognitive development, and sleep sacks. The sleep sacks help reduce the risk of SIDS while keeping the babies warm. The sleep sacks are also given to the parents when their children go home. All gifts are tax deductible, and obviously go to a great cause.
If you’d like to give to the Stephen and Matthew Huffman Neonatal Enrichment Fund, just follow this link:
Stephen and Matthew Huffman Neonatal Enrichment Fund Giving
Please select the “Stephen and Matthew Huffman Neonatal Enrichment Fund” as the choice to make donations. Also, if you give, please make sure you put Christian’s name in the “Additional Information” field under “In Honor Of”. That will help us track Christian’s fund raising. If you would rather give over the phone or via mail, click –> here <– for information on how to do that.
Finally, if you would be so kind, forward this post to everyone you know to help spread the word about what Christian is doing. Thanks again for taking the time to read this.
Relentless. Forward. Progress. 