Tag Archives | donate

Jackson’s Journey – Where no one should ever have to go

By on June 15, 2012 in Charity

Do you know what a Hemispherectomy is? Wikipedia describes it as “a very rare surgical procedure where one cerebral hemisphere (half of the brain) is removed or disabled.”

On Friday, June 29th, at 2pm, a sweet little boy named Jackson is going to be the next person to have a Hemispherectomy.

Taken from Moving Forward… to Neurosurgery:

“J has autism, cerebral palsy, sensory processing disorder and intractable (untreatable) epilepsy.  A form of epilepsy called LKS / ESES.  His brain is in a spike and wave pattern that, among other damages, does not allow REM sleep…the sleep needed to consolidate the days events…allowing learning to happen.  Spike and wave equivocates to his brain firing in attempts of physical manifestations of seizures…. the damage being done is pervasive.”

Jackson’s mom, Gina from http://specialhappens.com is very well known in the special needs blogging community, often giving of herself and providing far more information than most “professional” sites ever have.

And now it’s time to help her out and to help Jackson continue his journey through and beyond his surgery.

They will be hosting a FUNraiser in their town, which you are more than welcome to attend. Information is here: http://jacksonsjourney.specialhappens.com/jumpstarting-jacksons-journey-funraiser

Also, you can help out with a donation, if you can’t attend, by going here: https://rally.org/jacksonsjourney/donate

I know that, being online, especially in the special needs community, we get asked to donate a lot. And we’re forced to pick and choose because as we are in the special needs community ourselves, we don’t have that much to spare as it is.

But I ask you to consider.. what if it was your child. What if you had to bring your child to the hospital, knowing that half of his/her brain was about to be disconnected? How would you feel? How much help would you need?

They’re a strong family. I know that just by reading Gina’s posts and articles. But as strong as they are, they’re going to need a little support as they continue on this journey.

If donating still isn’t something that you can do, then perhaps you could consider cards (bought or made), videos, pictures, flowers, toys or anything that you think might help to brighten up the hospital room which will be home to Jackson for some time following the surgery.

If you have something that you’d like to send, please send it to:

Special Happens / St. Aubin Family
9609 S. University Blvd., #630303
Littleton, CO 80163

 

Please visit the Jackson’s Journey website and read about why this is necessary, how they prepare for it and… what comes next.

Don’t do it for me. Do it for Jackson, because he doesn’t deserve these problems but he does deserve our help.

Comments { 3 }

The best part about the Autism community is…

By on June 28, 2011 in Autism

One could argue that the Autism community is strong, but really it’s quite divided… one could also say that it’s very passionate but that passion is often what causes the division. One could say that it’s the amount of information that we have available and even make available ourselves but all too often, that information can be misguided, incorrect or down right deceiving.

I think, the one element within the Autism community that is truly what makes it great is the support. No matter the differences, no matter the disagreements… we all find a way to console each other, uplift each other, give advice to each other and even, when necessary, donate to one another.

Recently my wife’s laptop died which forced me to shift a desire into a need… I wanted an iPad for my boys but never made it a priority but when my wife no longer had a means of doing her work (online support), we needed to get her back online. And thus, the iPad became a need. So I made a donation page on my blog which resulted in our getting an iPad just a short month later.

What’s truly great about this is that none of us have much money, we all have therapy, travels, diets and other things that take up a good chunk of our money but when someone within our community needs it, we all find a way to help out with an extra $10 or so. And that is never lost on the person who gets it… it’s never forgotten the sacrifice that it is to those that could have used that money themselves.

For a friend

Living with LoganCaryn is the blogger at Living with Logan and tweets as @ihave7monsters… this name being specifically chosen because she is the mother of 7 children. One of whom, Logan, has Autism.

Since starting her blog and becoming active on Twitter, she’s done quite well for herself in getting a readership but she’s still needing to take it to the next level. For that, she’s hoping to get some help to go to BlogHer, a convention specifically focused on women who blog and helping them to turn it into a business, or to just simply do even better than they already are.

Caryn has started The Momma Project which is her drive to reach $1000 to get to the convention. If you have a little to spare, head on over and click on the Chip In button.

If you don’t, perhaps share the link or spread the word… and in time, when/if you ever need it, Caryn, myself and everyone within the Autism community will “pay it forward” in an effort to help out where we can for you as well.

Support is where you give it

On Twitter, I like to end each day by tweeting something a little positive, with the statement “Support is where you give it” as a reminder that we’re all helping each other. You have to be there with a kind word, some friendly advice or even a dollar or two if you can if you want to help keep the circle of supporting each other alive.

Your little bit of support added with everyone else’s little bit of support makes for a very powerful support system that could one day be there for you when you need it.

Comments { 1 }