SUCCESS at Great Strides 2011!

BIG THANKS to everyone who supported Nic's Team in the Great Strides walk in 2011! Our team contributed about $800 this year. A little short of our goal but not too bad. The overall effort was very successful.  The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in Virginia reports that the Roanoke event raised $38 Thousand dollars by walk day this year, exceeding the set goal of $34,000. The final tally is expected to be over $50 thousand dollars going directly to the CFF National Office and then directly towards research. This is why we take strides to cure CF. Donations buy Research. Research buys Life.

Here are some of my pics from this year's Great Strides walk in Roanoke on May 7th.......

 

The walkers of Nic's Team included 1 non-human. Yes, it is really a remote-controlled robot. It was built by the Robotics team at Patrick Henry High School. Nic is a member of the team. Big Thanks to Robotics teacher Mr. Cotter for bringing the robot outside on a Saturday.

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Nic and his teammate Cody drove the robot for the entire course.

When everyone started walking around the campus, our robot-led team was able to keep up a decent pace with the group. but....  

     

....as we started going uphill, the small machine couldn't quite keep up with the other walkers.

  

As we passed by the stables, one horse may have been wondering what was that strange thingy going by.

By the time we got to the biggest hill on the back side of campus, the other walkers were out of sight.

Finally, Nic and his robot reached the end of the course. We didn't set any speed records, but we finished.

There were lots of FUN activities for the walkers to do after the walking was done. There was a DJ playing music, PIZZA, refreshments, crafts for the kids, a clown making balloon animals, and even BUBBLES! 

The DJ led a limbo contest and a hoola-hoop contest. The robot even did a little demonstration to entertain folks. A great time was had by all!

new videos from GS '11 coming up.....

this SATURDAY

this SATURDAY is Roanoke's Great Strides for CF. Nic's Team is ready to go and excited because the weather forecast is good. it is always held on the beautiful Hollins University campus. here are some of my best pics from last year's walk.....

here is a pic of the walkers for Nic's Team in 2010. it is me (hat), Nic (yellow shirt) and his sister Somer, with Granny Ree and Papa Archie...

new pics from 2011 coming up next week....

less than one week to go!

less than one week to go.... next weekend is GREAT STRIDES 2011 in Roanoke! several sponsors have already signed up but we are not yet close to our goal. PLEASE help Nic's Team if you can! Click on the Great Strides box to JOIN .....




here is a super-cool celebrity endorsement from NFL Quaterback Boomer Esiason ....




Boomer won't be at Hollins University for the Roanoke walk. but Nic's Team will. its gonna be fun for everyone....

team pic from 2003

this is a picture of Nic's Team from Great Strides 2003....

as you can see, Great Strides is alot of fun! looking forward to May 7th!

trying to get back to "normal"

The last post was meant to provide readers with information about the disease Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and why we need to support efforts to find a cure. All those good links, plus some more, are now located over there on the sidebar. However, this blog is not meant to be all scientific and technical and stuff. It is more about overcoming CF and Nic's Team and Great Strides and positive things.

Cystic Fibrosis, while a serious disease, is not debilitating. Most people with CF lead very normal lives. The biggest difference in their everyday lives is the large amount of medicine they have to take. This is true for Nicholas also. Since he was 2-months old, Nic has taken regular breathing treatments using a nebulizer. This kind of therapy is like second-nature to him by now. I have taken quite a few pics of Nic over the years. Here is a pic of little Nicholas taking Albuterol before he could complain about the camera....


Later on, Nic started using a VEST machine for airway clearance. He still does that everyday. Here he is years after the last pic doing his therapy, trying to get me and looking kinda like Dr. Octopus....

One of the medicines that Nic takes every day is Pulmozyme, a drug which was developed with the help of funding from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF). This means that people who were Great Strides supporters back in the 1990's directly helped my son with his disease. So I know that donations we make to CFF today can help Nic and many others in the future. There are many scientific studies and research developments happening all the time. Check Out the news headlines from CFF over there on the sidebar to read the latest.

In 2007, Nic went into the hospital for the first time since he was a baby. He had pneumonia. He was in for 4 days because he needed some powerful IV antibiotics. He missed a couple of weeks of school after that. Here is a pic of Nic and his brain in the hospital the first time...

Coincidentally his first hospital stay happened at the same time as a big event for me. For 3 months prior to that I had planned to attend a Van Halen concert in Greensboro with some old friends. It was the BIG Reunion with David Lee Roth and I didn't want to miss it. I asked Nic if I should still go and he said it was OK as long as I bought him a hat at the show. I don't think he knows who Van Halen is. The concert was amazing, that week was long and Nic got better quickly. You can read what I wrote about all that back then over on my music is music blog HERE. Naturally I had a camera around. Here is what I felt like in the hospital room the morning after the show....

These days Nic is a very normal teenager into video games, robots and horror movies. He has gone a long time without getting a serious illness. Getting sick is never the plan for anyone, especially people with CF. When I started this blog last month I did not think that I would be writing about getting sick. But since then things have changed a bit.

Recently Nic had to go back to the hospital for his second stay. Pneumonia again. Plus some other stuff. This stay was for 7 days. Then another week out of school after that. That is what we have been dealing with this April. I am not going to go into details about all the medical issues. But the GOOD NEWS is that he is home now and trying to get back to normal. Whatever "normal" means. I certainly hope that we are done with hospital visits for a while.

Coincidentally this hospital stay came just a week after a big concert again. I went to see Prince in concert, someone I have wanted to see since I was Nic's age. The show was amazing!

Nic did NOT want me to take any pictures of him in the hospital this time. Of course i still did. (He He) But I won't post that one, instead here is a pic I took of the little drawing I did on the message board in his room.....

From here on i will be posting lots and lots of pictures and not that many words. Please check back for updates on the fund raising and more good stuff.

PLEASE SPONSOR US IF YOU CAN!




thanks for reading,
Nic's dad

What is Cystic Fibrosis?

What is Cystic Fibrosis? found out some answers at these helpful links:

CF Foundation - www.cff.org

Cystic Fibrosis - wikipedia

cysticfibrosis.com - information resource

kidshealth.org - Cystic Fibrosis


families and friends of CF patients are doing what they can to bring a cure closer by supporting the CFF and GREAT STRIDES this spring. Nic's Team has been walking in the Roanoke Great Strides event for several years. here is a pic of Nic walking with his Mom way back in 2001....

coming up: more pics

Great Strides for CF

taking "Great Strides for Cystic Fibrosis" refers to participating in the CF Foundation's largest and most successful national fund-raising event called GREAT STRIDES. CFF is known as one of the most effective charities in the USA. Nearly 90 cents of every dollar of revenue raised is used for investment in vital CF programs to support research, care and education.

Raising money for this worthwhile cause is the very least we can do to ensure that one day a cure will be found for Nic and kids like him. We have participated in this event for 12 years. Lots of generous people have helped us in the past and we are extremely grateful.

the Roanoke walk is always held on the beautiful campus of Hollins University. This year's event will be held on May 7th. Our team will be there along with lots of others. All of our supporters are invited to join us. 

Making a donation is easy and secure! Just click the "Click to Donate" button on this page to go to our team web page to make a donation that will be credited to the team. Any amount you can donate is greatly appreciated! With help from generous sponsors, we can meet our fund-raising goal.




BIG THANKS TO ALL OUR SUPPORTERS!!!

me & nic pic 2

here is a much more recent photo of me and Nic. this is from December 2010....

me & nic pic 1

here is a pic of me and my son Nicholas when he was about 1 year old.....

more pics and words coming,

Nic's Dad

first post

Hello,

Welcome to the Nic's Team web page. this site is dedicated to highlighting our fight against Cystic Fibrosis, a deadly genetic disease that has no cure. We are raising awareness of the disease and gathering sponsors for our Great Strides walk team. Every year our family raises money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (cff.org) to help them support research into new treatments and ultimately a cure. Research equals life.  

Nicholas is my 15 year old son. He sometimes likes to spell it "Nick". When Nic was 2-days old he had major surgery to fix a problem in his intestines. It was a miracle of modern medical science that he survived. Since he was a little baby we have supported the CFF and their annual Great Strides walk-a-thon campaign. It is a yearly event usually attended by families and friends of people with CF. We always have a lot of fun. Our local walk is held at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia.

Our family can attest to the progress that comes from targeted research into fighting this disease. Several of the medications that Nic has taken were direct results of the CFF's support for those promising drugs while they were being developed. It is important to do everything we can to help fund research not just for Nic but also for the thousands of other CF patients out there. The CFF certainly lives up to its motto: adding tomorrows everyday

Hopefully this blog is gonna be a collaborative effort between me and Nic. We are both going to write posts here so be prepared for that. Nic is just like any other 15-year-old in every way. It's just that while dealing with being a teenager, he also has to deal with a serious disease everyday of his life. He does a pretty good job of coping with it all most of the time. He generally does pretty well in school and even volunteers for the YMCA Leader's Club. As Dad, i spend a lot of time making sure Nic takes his meds. I also take a lot of pictures and will be posting some of them here.

Please consider sponsoring Nic's Team this year. I will be posting more info on that very soon. Come back here again to see how we are doing. Any comments are welcome.


THANKS,
Nic's Dad




To get things started here is a pic of a 7-year-old Nic walking the course at Great Strides 2003...

.....this was the first post on this new blog. stay tuned for more....