50 days. Until Ironman Miami.
40 days. The amount of time this sweet baby boy has been on this earth.
And in his short time on this earth, this little guy has moved me to tears, restored my faith, and caused me to pull my two little babies so close, thank my Lord for my blessings, and stop….be still… breathe… and pray.
This baby boy is Caden Stanley.
And I have never met him, or his family. But I have fallen in love with him. He looks so much like my son did at that age. This could have been our James.
Thanks to the awesome organization yRun, the Expert and I are able to dedicate our race at 70.3 Miami to Caden, his parents, Becca & Adam, and his three year old sister, Jayci.
By “dedicating” our race, I do not mean “hey, we’re running this in honor of Caden.” I mean, I am going to… for the next 50 days, dedicate my efforts to Caden’s cause. This may cause some of you to grow tired of me, my requests, and my updates. I’m sorry for that. But I am sure I annoy you guys in so many other ways… just focus on those.
For the next 50 days, Caden is my “misson” and the driving force behind my training.
Becca and Adam, Caden’s parents, gave up their prior jobs to move into the inner city of Atlanta, to live and to share their hope and faith where they were planted. They started a non-profit organization, Blueprint 58, and closed on a house near their mission just a few days before Caden was born. Fast forward a few days, and Caden arrived.
Only then did the doctors discover his severe heart defect. At five days old, Caden underwent open heart surgery. It was terrifying for his parents.
We all read Becca’s blog and followed the surgery, the recovery, the scares. I cried. I prayed.
I have never been more moved by a baby in my life. And I did not know this baby, his family or anything other than the fact that I loved him, and I prayed and hugged my babies so much tighter.
When Caden was able to go home only a short time later, we rejoiced, and cried.
But the truth is, that Caden’s battle is not over.
He is still unable to eat through a bottle. His healing has been miraculous, but there is so much struggle remaining. The exhaustion of feeding him every 1.5 hours, the care for their three year old, plus the fact that they are struggling with their non-profit…. the Stanley family needs some help, and I pray that Swim Bike Mom & the Expert can do some good – some tangible, real, non-tongue-in-cheek good for this family.
Here’s how you can help. Yes, a donation.
But not a big one.
Just a little Swim Bike Mom favor… if you’ve enjoyed the blog (or I have made you mad enough to spit) if you would just commit to give $5 to the cause by clicking here.
$5. Or a dollar. Whatever you can give. 100% of the profits (minus PayPal fees only) will go to the Stanley Family. Here’s what you can get. Everyone who donates something, no matter how small, will get entered into a drawing for a $50 giftcard from All3Sports.com.
Thank you, yRun, and my girl, Charlie for helping us get this started.
Here’s the full story. Please share if you are so moved. Thanks to all of you. 🙂
Amazing. He's so adorable!!!! What a good cause.
I do know the Stanleys and love them dearly. Thank you for allowing God to move in you to be a blessing to them.
You have moved ME to tears with this — thank you a million times over!
Becca – I hope we can do great things for you guys!!! 🙂 You guys are a HUGE blessing.