Welcome to my RIDER PAGE:
This year is my 6th Courage Classic Bicycle Challenge! I ride with my husband and heart patient, Jeremy on the Cardiac Climbers Team. We raise funds for The Children's Hospital (TCH) Heart Institute with the hope of increasing the survival of children born with Congenital Heart Defects (CHD), the most common and most deadly birth defect in the US. There is no cure. CHD is a lifelong disease requiring ongoing specialized care.
Not only will I ride for our son, Jeremy (see his update below), I have met another "heart warrior", Tyler who further inspires support for TCH. By sharing a new incredible story, every year I ride, I hope to continue to give new perspective of the amazing services provided by TCH.
Meet Tyler! Tyler will be inspiring us over mountain passes. Tyler's mother Tasha has written Tyler's story here.
At Tasha’s 20-week ultrasound, it was discovered that Tyler would have a heart defect but the extent of the defect would not be known until he was born. Tyler and his twin, Sydney, were born at 32 weeks. Tyler was placed in the PICU for the highest level of care. Tyler’s heart defect was determined to be Shone’s Complex, he also had Pulmonary Hypertension and chronic lung disease that required him to be intubated and put on a ventilator at birth. Sydney came home after 5 weeks in the NICU. Tyler became a “resident of the PICU”. At 3 months old Tyler had his first heart surgery to repair the coarctation of the aorta. He did well with the surgery and we hoped he would no longer need the support of a ventilator to breath. He had good days and bad days, unfortunately the bad days outweighed the good and he could not breath without the ventilator. At 6 months old Tyler got a trach and a g-tube. He continued to have good and bad days. When Tyler hit 10 months in the hospital we decided to transfer him to Childrens Hospital of Colorado (the hospital where he was born had done all they could do). At Childrens, he once again was a “resident of the PICU”. He had several teams of doctors taking care of him. After 502 days in the hospital Tyler came home for the first time. When Tyler came home he had a trach, ventilator and a g-tube. His medication list was extensive. He was so happy! He began making progress in all aspects of his life; he worked so hard. For a couple of years he was admitted to the hospital every couple of months for illness that we couldn’t handle at home. At age 5, Tyler had his second heart surgery. This surgery was to repair his mitral valve. This surgery was the best possible outcome for Tyler. His heart is as good as it will get and it is good enough to support a great life. As Tyler grew, he no longer needed the ventilator and currently is not needing much oxygen. In May of 2023 Tyler’s trach was removed. Tyler is now 10. He is looking forward to 5th grade in the fall. Tyler has taught us to notice and celebrate all the small accomplishments in life.
Warrior Updates:
Jeremy, our son, has been followed by TCH for 22 years. He is 4 years post open heart Ross procedure, continues to be monitored for multisystem issues. Jers is riding his 3rd CC. This May he graduated from the U of AZ and is now Director of Bands at a Middle School, Southern AZ.
Martha, forever 20, died 4/15/22 from Ewings Sarcoma. For 7 years she did not take one moment for granted, faced her disease, raised $ for a cure, spoke on behalf of children, and lived/loved hard and pure. Her legacy "that someday any child diagnosed with cancer will be told with certainty, 'yes, you will live!'" Her legacy supports St.Baldricks.org. Hundreds of thousands of dollars goes to Childhood Cancer research because of it. We miss you MarMar.
Please help me make my goal of $1000 to support lives like Tyler's and Jeremy's and to memorialize Martha by donating below to support The Children's Hospital.
Cami(lle)