65 Roses

Today has been very humbling for me. The annual Strides for Cystic Fibrosis is coming up, and we've been in a rush to prepare. Every year we create a new team shirt for the walk to represent CF as well as my son and all of his supporters.

This year, we have changed who will be doing our shirts. After speaking with her, I feel like we're in very good hands and I'm thrilled to be working with her. Partially because I've known her most of my life! She's been a huge supporter of my son since he was diagnosed. She knows pretty much the ins and outs of our life and our struggles.

She is donating her time to designing an amazing shirt for this year, as well as giving part of the proceed's to us to pay down some of my son's medical bills, as well as part of the proceeds for us to donate under my son's walk team's name to the CF research foundation!

I am humbled at the fact that, although she is a personal family friend, she is willing to donate her time and most of the proceeds to help us as a family, and help us reach our goal of donation to the CF research foundation for the year. Not only that, this girl designs some of the best looking shirts!

I am thrilled that we are able to join in on the walk this year, as we prepared for the walk last year but were unable to make it due to my son being sick and my husband having to work. Although we still donated proceeds to the foundation, we couldn't make the walk. But this year, I have high hopes that we will be able to make it! My husband no longer works on the weekends, and my son has been really healthy so far this year!

Even though we struggle financially, I make it a point to give something to this foundation. Even if it's only $20 a month. The research is so crucial to all the people and children with Cystic Fibrosis. It helps with finding new medications and many other things that the CF'ers need, as well as hopefully finding a cure! That's the biggest thing to me as a mother is helping even just a little bit so that maybe, in my lifetime, they will find a cure and I see my son cured and free from this monster of a disease.

I know it's not cancer, and it could be worse, but myself and a mother can say that CF has robbed my son of his life—a normal life, anyway. In more ways than one. So if giving up my last $20 to research is all I can do to hopefully help make a difference, then by golly, that's what I'm going to do!

I'm so thankful for his CF care team, and our entire support system. We have a lot of people around the country who help support us when we do these fundraisers! It's a big deal to us! This walk is the highlight of our year. We pre-register for the walk and make sure to get his team name on the list and recognized. And we like to set a goal prior to the fundraiser for how much we plan to raise and donate to the foundation.

This year, our goal is $2,000. I have very high hopes that we can make that with this fundraiser. I'm more than willing to bet, even if we don't make it to $2,000, my son will have the biggest smile on his face as he presents whatever we have raised to give to the foundation. He has the most beautiful heart for an almost two-year-old. He knows the meaning of giving, even at this age. We've had a lot of help since he's been born. We wouldn't have had a Christmas last year had it not been for our family and friends pulling together and helping! We are truly thankful for them!

Our hopes are high and our minds are focused on this new goal! This fundraiser will hopefully be as successful as we are foreseeing. I'm truly thankful for all the help we've had and I can't wait to launch the new "RJ's Angel's" shirts this year for the walk!

Everything I do, I do for you, baby! Mama loves you!

XOXO