FTK All day, Every day |
Today marks 100 days until IUDM 2014. When the first committee meetings began in February, this number was 269. Since then we have seen success in the Annual Golf Outing and Spring Road Rules canning weekend, we have experienced joy with the announcement that one of our Riley kids is still cancer-free, we have made lifelong friends, and we have already made miracles happen FTK. Now, it comes down to the next 100 days, the final stretch. It is exciting, a bit scary, and inspiring knowing what we will accomplish in the next 100 days to surpass our goals, touch more lives, and stand together at IUDM for the kids. But, we will take one day at a time and gradually, then very quickly we will see the miracles come together before our eyes as the campus lights up with the spirit of Ryan White, Ashley Louise Crouse and the Riley Kids. While it is easy to want to think ahead to the next 100 days, I want to focus on just this 1 day, 24 hours, 1440 minutes or 86,400 seconds. One day might seem short in the scheme of life, a year or 100 days, but the magnitude of what can happen in one day is incredible. In one day at Riley Hospital, 247 kids were cared for overnight in the Simon Family Tower and hundreds visited the Riley Outpatient Center. In one day, over 45 surgeries took place and 121 children came to the Emergency Department. In one day, 53 babies were cared for in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and the smallest one weighed only 1 lb 11 ounces. In one day, 21 Riley kids received chemotherapy and 16 tiny hearts were being carefully cared for in the Riley Heart Center. In this one day, these children were away from their homes, their friends, their schools. It takes just one day for a Riley kid's life to change when the doctors walk in with his diagnosis. But these kids are fighters. The amazing care at Riley gives each family hope that they will get that one more day, 100 more days, 10,000 more days to spend with their child. It means one more day to play in the dirt, one more day to celebrate a birthday, one more day to dream about what they will be when they grow up, and more more day to say "I love you" before bed. So then, what can we do in just one day? The potential of these next 24 hours is limitless and when the power of each and every IUDM committee member, dancer, alumni and supporter is put together, miracles truly will happen. So on this 100 day mark, the challenge is simple. We will each raise $100. This $100 represents the 100 days till IUDM 2014, but it stands for so much more. At the end of the day, it means we can look back and know that while it seemed you were giving one whole day of time spent FTK, it really means a lifetime for a kid at Riley. Written by Allison Winstel
2 Comments
Judith Winstel
8/6/2014 03:33:27 pm
Thanks for sharing one day at Riley, the images of hope and healing are so profound and encouraging.
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Maggie Winstel
8/6/2014 04:44:06 pm
So much love in just one day! FTK!
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