Category: Get Involved

These posts contains ways to get involved, help out, raise awareness, and/or donate to various great organizations and people doing amazing things out there.


Mar
2014

Head for the Cure

categories: Get Involved, Posts by Shawn

If you will be in Austin this Sunday, the 30th, please consider the Head for the Cure Central Texas 5K.

The Head for the Cure Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness and funding in the fight against brain cancer. The 5K events are not only successful fundraisers, but unique tributes to those who are fighting brain cancer and those who have lost their battles. Their memories carry on through the teams that formed around them, and the teams return year after year to celebrate their legacies.

http://events.headforthecure.org/site/TR/Events/General?team_id=1502&pg=team&fr_id=1050

The Head for the Cure Foundation works with the Brain Tumor Trials Collaborative. BTTC was created as a network of medical centers with the expertise and strong desire to participate in state-of-the-art clinical trials investigating new treatments for malignant brain tumors.

Included in the BTTC are Dana Farber and MD Anderson. We spoke with oncologists at both of these institutions who were more than willing to share their expertise on Kai’s case. The oncologists and neurologists at Dana Farber, MD Anderson, Dell Children’s Medical Center, and St. Jude’s shared immense expertise while being honest and compassionate.


Mar
2014

Thank you for Celebrating Kai!

categories: Get Involved

Admittedly, I think Shawn and I are at a loss for words today. In all honesty, this morning Shawn and I were on our knees wondering if we could even do this – how do you go to a party you never thought you’d have to host? But, then we thought about Kai – this is his party and we are given the opportunity to honor him and celebrate him, so we prayed for strength to be joyful and remember his life and smile and amazing spirit. And God answered. He created a celebration that we could never have imagined and we are just absolutely overwhelmed with how many of you came to celebrate with us from near and far and the incredible support of so many of you who helped make Kai’s party so wonderful. A friend commented to us that during the celebration she heard all of these joyful noises like at a kid’s party – she saw people smiling and heard the kiddos rustling the balloons or drawing on paper and that makes Shawn and I smile. We hope/imagine that Kai was doing something similar and enjoying running around with his Thomas or Elmo balloon and making grand circles on the big sheets of paper. Kai Kai, we love you and we celebrate you today. God, thank you for the amazing life you created in Kai to share with all of us, we are forever grateful and so thankful for that joy. Thank you again to all of you for helping us along on this journey.

Thank you Doug and Amanda for creating this beautiful video celebrating Kai’s life.


Mar
2014

Celebration for Kai – March 24, 2014

categories: Get Involved

To celebrate Kai’s life, we will be gathering together for a kid-friendly event this Monday, March 24, 2014. 

Details:
Triumphant Love Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall
9508 Great Hills Trail, Austin, Texas 78759
1:45 pm

This will be a kid-friendly event including some art activities for children to participate in if they wish. There will be a brief more “formal” portion of the event that will start at 2:00 pm and a small reception to follow including a few of Kai’s favorite snacks.  

If you asked Kai his favorite color, it would change depending on the day. So feel free to wear your favorite color or any thing else that is bright and happy. We look forward to celebrating Kai’s life with you. 

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to a charitable organization such as St. Jude or Livestrong.. 


Mar
2014

Celebration for Kai – more details to follow

categories: Get Involved

Thank you everyone for your prayers, encouragement, empathy, warmness, messages, food, company, hugs, tributes, and so much more. We would not be able to go through this without you and just thank you so incredibly much. Thank you for being so generous with your hearts and spirit.kai in his car seat april 2013

We wanted to let you know that we will be holding a celebration for Kai this Monday, March 24 most likely at 1:45/2:00 ish in the afternoon. We are finalizing a few details and will post the exact information later tonight. We do want to let everyone know that this will be a celebration of life, so this will be kid-friendly with ways that Kai’s friends can help celebrate him and remember him if they wish.

Thank you again for all of your support and we’ll post more information tonight.