Welcome everyone!
My name is Javier, and this will be my second year riding in the Courage Classic to help raise money for the Children’s Hospital Colorado. This will also be my second year with the Cardiac Climbers, where the money I raise will go specifically to the Heart Institute.
The Courage Classic is a two-day bike tour through Rocky Mountain Passes where I'll bike between 120 and 145 miles and climb at least 7,000 feet of elevation gain !
Last year, I had the privilege to ride on behalf of Evit Plowman and raised almost $1,000. This year, I'm honored to be riding on behalf of TJ.
Here is TJ's background provided by his mother Nicole:
"Tayler “TJ” was born May 12,2023 in Denver Colorado at Denver health. We knew TJ would be going to the NICU for low birth weight, but a week after he was born doctors discovered his heart defects. That was the worst day in my family’s life. On TJ’s second week of life he caught meningitis. By the third week Denver health could no longer give TJ the proper medical care he needed. June 6th TJ was transferred to Children’s Hospital Colorado. I felt that TJ was doing better and was gradually improving. Unfortunately his oxygen saturations continued to decline and we were moved to the CPCU to await surgery. On July 18th TJ had his first open heart surgery. TJ spent one week in the CICU and made his way back to the CPCU. On July 31st TJ was intubated in an emergency event because he was on the edge of going into cardiac arrest. August 23rd TJ underwent his first cath procedure and the team informed us that the patch covering his larger VSD had a significant leak. On August 25th TJ had to undergo another Open heart surgery. In the process of opening his chest a blood vessel was damaged and needed to be repaired, this caused a big hiccup almost resulting in TJ coming off with the ECMO. TJ had to be put back on the bypass machine two times during his second procedure. As a result TJ had his chest open for three days and continued vacuum therapy to help close the incision. By the end of September we were finally able to make our way to the CPCU and by the grace of God TJ was discharged on October 27th at 5 1/2 months old."
