Garrison's Gift to Dylan

There are many good people in the world, but our friend, Garrison, and his family, are among the best! Garrison brought Christmas early to the kids. A new big boy bike for Dylan and some fun toys for Kaden and Brielle. So sweet!!

Dylan couldn't wait to use his new running leg to race Garrison! So first things first, the race was on!! :)

     

Garrison's dad, Chris, is so great and Brielle loved how he ran with her!

At one point I ran inside to grab something and I loved Dylan and Garrison's other legs hanging out together. So cute!

After running around and playing for a little bit, we headed inside. Garrison had some presents for the kids. First he gave some presents to Brielle and Kaden. They were all SO perfect and the kids loved them! It was so thoughtful of them to think of the other kids too!

      

And then it was time for Dylan's present! They had him close his eyes and brought in a new big boy bike! Dylan is very reserved with his emotions and doesn't show them very often, but I promise you, he LOVED it!! How cool is that bike!?!

  

Garrison brought his own bike so that he and Dylan could ride their bikes together. How great is he!?! Dylan has just barely learned how to ride his bike without training wheels and is still struggling a little with it, so Garrison was awesome and kept hopping off his bike to help Dylan get started or help him up when he would fall. Dylan had SO much fun!

 

 

 

 

Dylan talked about this day for quite awhile after. "Remember when I raced Garrison? I have a leg like Garrison now!" "When can I ride my cool bike again?" "Is Garrison going to come over and ride bikes again?" He was one happy boy!

I am so grateful for Garrison (and his family)! We feel honored to know such an amazing guy. He is so quality and I'm so glad Dylan has someone like Garrison to look up to and be friends with. I love seeing their special bond and look forward to watching their friendship grow.

Dylan's New Running Leg!!

December 21st was such an awesome day! It was so emotional but for all the right reasons!

We've never thought Dylan couldn't run. He's always done great keeping up with other kids as best as he could, in his own way. It wasn't "normal", more of like a hop/skip/run, but he did fine and we knew he'd be just fine with what he had. A running leg was something Dylan has talked about wanting. He has said he wanted a "running leg like Garrison" ever since we started watching our friend, Garrison, at his track meets. We didn't know if that would ever be possible, but that if we were ever lucky enough to get one, it wouldn't be for quite a few years. Running legs are considered a "luxury" and insurance companies don't pay for luxuries. They help cover whatever you need for basic functioning, which we are extremely grateful for. So we knew getting a running leg through our insurance was not possible. Running legs aren't cheap. Prosthetic legs in general aren't cheap, but running legs are even less cheap. :) We're talking $10,000 and upwards. With that in mind, as much as we wish we could, we knew paying for one ourselves was not possible at this time (or maybe ever). So when our prosthetist approached us saying he was in contact with someone who was wanting to provide some kids with free running legs we were honored that our prosthetist thought of Dylan. All together, there were six kids that work with our prosthetist and his partner that were able to receive free running legs. Our prosthetist donated the sockets for each kid and a man named Adam O from Game Changer Feet donated the running feet.

It was so amazing! Like I said before, we've never thought Dylan couldn't run. However, watching him TRULY run for the first time was INCREDIBLE!! Seeing his legs run as fast as his heart and will have always wanted to go brought me to tears. He was in full on running strides, which he's never been able to do. It was so awesome. He got his leg on, he walked around for a little bit, and literally less than 5 minutes of wearing the running leg and he was off running everywhere so fast! It was such a fun day full of so many smiles and laughs and tears of happiness. It was such a beautiful day and we are so incredibly grateful for Jason, our prosthetist, and Adam O at Game Changer Feet, for donating these legs to these deserving kids. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Checking out the new legs. He chose a lightning pattern, because his running leg was going to help him "run as fast as Flash". :)

 

Getting fitted into his new leg.

     

Walking around for the first time on it. Since it doesn't have a heel, it's something that people need to get used to walking/running around on. It's like us two legged folks walking around on the balls of our feet/toes...it's not easy.

     

High fives with Jack

And he's off!! I love in this video how he said he was just going to walk around for a little bit by himself and the next thing we know, he's running! RUNNING!!! :) He can never pass up a race and apparently Adam O challenged him. :) haha!

 

 

Did I mention there were tears? haha! Tears of the happiness variety, of course! :)

After that, there was no stopping him!! He was off and running and having SO much fun!! He wanted to race everybody...his friend, Jack, who was also getting a free running leg, Daddy, Kaden, Brielle...anyone that would run with him. He did such a great job keeping up and even passing them!

 

 

       

 

 

The rest of the day was spent playing around, chatting, and of course, running. :)

                                     

Look at all these kids running!!!

We loved seeing our friends, Karin, Levi, Jack and Evan! Jack is just a little younger than Dylan so we've gone through this journey together and love getting together with them whenever we get the chance!

We are so grateful for Jason and Adam O. We are so appreciative of their kindness and generosity in making this dream come true for Dylan (and all the kids)!