Who' Becca?

The UCONN students have been very busy and working very hard on getting the most dancers that they have ever had for the HuskyTHON. Becca and I were there a few weeks ago to help spread the word on how important dancing for the kids is. On day one the had flyers all over the campus asking Who is Becca? The flyer also had a time and a place where the students could find out who Becca was. I was told it was all over facebook statuses and twitter. It's amazing what social networking can do. On Day two Becca and I were in the student union. I told Becca's story which also aired later that night on the college TV station. There was a good turnout of students that wanted to find out who Becca was. On day three students wore Who's Becca? Tee shirts, on the back it said ask me, I know. They passed out flyers with Becca's story. Every time we go to an event at UNCONN I am always so impressed. These kids have amazing ideas on how to raise money for CT Children's Medical Center (CCMC) and they are always trying to surpass the money raised the year before. We love going to UCONN! Thank You UCONN for helping the kids of CT. As they say at CCMC, Anything For The Kids!

Sunflower Maze at Lyman's Orchard 2010

We were invited to participate in CT Children's Medical Center (CCMC) Day at Lyman's Orchard this past weekend. It has been a tradition since Becca was 2 to go apple picking and pumpkin picking there every October, so we were very excited to be a part of an event there. We were one of two hospital families that went. For the past several years Lyman's has sunflower maze during the summer. $1 from every ticket sale is donated to CCMC. Our names were placed in a bag and Maddie (from the other hospital family) was chosen to lead us and be the 20,000th person to walk through the maze. We had a great time! I love seeing local family businesses get involved and help out CCMC. Adam loved all the snacks and goodies they had out for us to much on. Their apple cider doughnuts are the best! Becca and I even got to pick apples. As of yesterday the apples we picked are already gone. We may have to make a return trip to Lyman's soon! I want to Thank John Lyman and his family for inviting us to this event. We had a great time!

Miracle Ride 2010

The Miracle Ride was April 25. Unfortunately the weather was not nearly as nice as last year. It was cold and raining and down right miserable. I did not brave taking my camera out of it"s bag to even take pictures. Luckily the Miracle Ride starting point is 5 Minutes from our new house. We went to this year to support the new Champion for CT Children's, Josh. Josh is an amazing child. As soon as his story is published I will post the link in our blog. I'm so proud of all those who participated in the Miracle Ride this year! The weather was awful, but 100 riders participated and $10,000 was raised. Money raised from this event goes directly to the NICU, as you all know that's where Becca was and this cause is very near and dear to out hearts. Without the amazing Nurses and Drs at the NICU Gary and I would not have our Becca.

Thank You to all who rode, you are true supporters of CT Children's! Fingers crossed for much better weather next year! :)

Saying Goodbye To Landon

I am sad to say that Becca's friend and fellow Champion for Children's Miracle Network, passed away last night April 12, 2010 at around 6pm. Just this week his friends found out his cancer was back, and last night Landon lost his life to cancer. He is not the first child to lose his life and unfortunately he will not be the last. My heart is heavy for the pain that his parents Bethany and Bob,his siblings, and the rest of his family must be feeling. Landon was an amazing little boy. Gary and I are honored and feel privileged to have known him. I am so happy that Becca and Adam were also able to meet him and get to know him during our trip to FL and Washington last year. I will always remember him running up to Adam every chance he got .... and grabbing his nose and laughing. He'd say, I got your nose Adam. Landon would always give it back :) I will remember that he thought throwing around Becca's Nemo stuffed animal and playing money in the middle was the best game ever. I will remember him shhhhhing Pearce and turning red for fear that Pearce would tell his secret. You see little Landon who was 6 at the time had a crush on my Becca.

When I think of Landon now, I picture him pain free and being able to run around and play and do things he was to sick to do. Sweet Landon is now an Angel. Rest in Peace sweet Landon. You will be missed by everyone who knew you.

HuskyTHON 2010

The HuskyTHON began officially at 6pm on February 22, 2010. The patient were given a dinner at 5 to celebrate the HuskyTHON. As always the students did an amazing job! There were over 600 dancers, over 100 volunteers, great coordinators, many sponsors and I believe 30 patient families (I could be wrong... very hard to keep track of all the numbers). The students are not allowed to sit for 18 hours, 6pm -12pm. The dancing started at 6 and the music only stopped for a family or an announcement.

When we walked in there was a line of students clapping for our little Becca. They do such an amazing job making the kids feel so special. Becca and Adam were given badges with their names. I have to fight with Adam every nap and bed time to take it off! He loves the badge and did a much better job wearing it then Becca did. The coordinators created a spirit dance that was done every hour. It was a medley of great songs that Becca and Adam loved. They had all kinds of bouncy houses, basketball, board game tables, and many other activities for the kids and the students to do. Jonathon the Husky made an appearance. Becca and Adam loved him! I would have to remind them that other kids wanted to play with him. He's a great dog! Becca hung out with her buddy President Hogan and for the second time made it into his blog.

Just to give you an idea about how much the HusyTHON has grown, last year Becca's sponsors, Pi Phi had 30 dancers. This year Pi Phi had 50 dancers. The girls did a wonderful job wrangling Becca. They followed her and helped her do any activity she wanted. I have to give those girls credit, you need a lot of energy to keep up with Becca1 They did a fantastic job! THANK YOU Pi Phi!

We stayed till 11pm on Saturday. The kids were exhausted. Becca fell asleep before we were even out of the parking garage, Adam was a different story. I think he was over stimulated. Both Adam and Becca loved playing basketball and many times Becca would disappear. I would find her dancing on stage! She was in Heaven!

Becca and I came back early Sunday Morning. As soon as Becca woke up , I got her dressed and put her in the car. We made a quick stop to get coffee and got back on the road to get back to UCONN. We got there around 9am. I have to say that there was a big difference in the energy level from when we left to when we got back. You could tell they were getting tired, but the hung in there. I noticed that as soon as they started seeing more kids come back the energy level picked up!

Becca found her way back to the stage on Sunday Morning and it was quite a sight to see. I had tears in my eyes. She was dancing on stage by herself and the students gathered around the stage, chanting her name and cheering her on! I hope this is a memory she will never forget! I know I won't! I told Becca's story Sunday morning. I have to say that I was very excited to learn the final number that the students raised for CT Children's. DRUM ROLL PLEASE.........................

The grand total was $150,228.00! They beat last years number by just over $42,000! I am very proud of everyone! Big shout outs to Andrew, Julie, Brianna and many others for there hard work to put together the HuskyTHON! They did an incredible job. On behalf of Becca and the other patients. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

I am very honored and proud to have been a small part of this event. We can not wait until next year!

Speech from today for Miracle Walk and Huskython

Becca's story actually begins with me. When I was 24 weeks pregnant, I noticed that my feet ankles and legs were very swollen. The next morning I went to see my doctor and found out that my blood pressure was through the roof. I was sent to Hartford Hospital to be monitored and was admitted. The next 4 days I spent in the Hospital on strict bed rest. The morning of the 5th day I was given an emergency c-section. I had HELPP syndrome a rare form of preaclamsia. My kidneys and liver had actually started shutting down. Sadly the only way that HELPP can be cured is to have the baby.

Rebecca Morgan Redman was born on July 30, 2003 weighing only 1 lb. and was 11 1/2 inches long. An average baby is between 7-8 lbs and 18-22 inches long.

When Becca was born, I was told to open my eyes and I saw a flash of the tenniest, tinniest leg i have ever seen. Becca had a team of Doctors and Nurses from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in the OR. within seconds she was evaluated and brought down to the NICU so that her treatments could begin. She was immediately put on an oscillator respirator . Her bed in the incubator actually moved back and fourth to help her breath better. Because Becca was born at 24 weeks her lungs were not 100% developed, she needed a lot of extra help to breath.

i can not say enough about the NICU staff, they were all amazing and supportive. I was not able to see Becca until the day after she was born. Becca's Head Nurse Kathy met us at the door and taught me how to scrub up and then walked us to Becca's room and explained all of the wires and machines that Becca was hooked up to. She answered all of our questions. Then for the first time I was able to cuddle my daughter. Not hold. Cuddling is when you cu your hands around your tiny baby and let her know you are there. I have to admit, It was very surreal to watch my tiny baby hooked up to all the machines and watch her fight every second for her life, Gosh did she fight!

Becca was finally able to be held when she was 21 days old. That day she also got her first kisses, one from Daddy and one from Mommy. She gained her first pound a month after she was born. There was quite a celebration that day! we walked in her room to find it decorated with signs and pictures that her nurses made for her. Who thought that gaining a pound could be such a good thing? Which each pound Becca gained we found even more reason to celebrate. Before Becca was discharged from the hospital she had two life threatening infections and a total of 6 blood transfusions.

On November 7, 2003, one week before my due date, I walked by the nurses station to hear whispers saying.... who's going to tell her. I thought nothing of it and went to Becca's room. The winning nurse, Alyssia came running over to me and asked it i wanted to take my daughter home. Of course the answer was yes! As I took the leads and wires off Becca's little body i sang, "I got no strings to tie me down." ..... from Pinocchio. I looked down at My baby girl and for the first time in her time she had no strings and hasn't been tied down since. We went to the phone and called Gary and told him the best news a parent could hear. That day Gary and I took our tiny baby home. She weighed only 4lbs. 4oz when we left the NICU.

While Becca was in the NICU Gary and I were encouraged to change her diapers, give her baths, take her temperature, mix her formula and breast milk, feed her bottles and even give her meds. When we were there we truly felt like we were parents. There is even a room where parents can sleep over and the babies are brought in to sleep with you. It was great practice to get ready for Becca's homecoming!

The NICU Doctors and Nurses were incredible. In the 101 days that Becca spent in the NICU the staff became an extended part of our family. We send Christmas cards every year and visit the NICU every chance we get. We will forever be grateful to the NICU, because of them We have our daughter.

Miracle Walk at UCONN

Today Gary, Becca and I attended the Miracle Walk at UCONN. It was a fashion show put on by the students to raise money for Children's Miracle Network and ultimately for Connecticut Children's Medical Center. I'm not sure of the dollar amount raised, but I know I spoke to a full house and at $5 for students and $10 for non-students there was a good amount raised today! There were also 2 shows today... we spoke at the 1:30 pm show there was also a 4 pm show. All money raised today will be added to the dollar amount that is raised at the Huskython in 3 weeks. I can not wait to hear the final tally... last year the Huskython raised $108k and this year I think they will blow that number right out of the water!
4 stores were showcased, Pink, by Victoria Secret (they actually have a line just for UCON), Ciao Bella, Kid Dangerous, and Trenz Boutique. All the clothes were amazing and the models were gorgeous! The whole event was very well organized. I was so happy that our little family could be a part of something so big! Adam stayed home and Memere baby sat. :) It was so nice to only worry about one kid! As I was speaking about being told we could take Becca home .... I started crying.( As soon as I was told that Becca could come home I quickly took off her leads and any wires that were attached to her. While I did that I sang "I got no strings to tie me down."...... from Pinocchio.) That's when the crying started on stage ... what did my Becca bean do? She walked up to me and wiped the tears from my eyes. She is the best little girl I could have ever hoped for. She has a big heart just like her Mama :)
We met many incredible people who worked very hard to make the show happen today. Thanks to Andrew Sullivan, he came up with the concept and worked really hard for today. Thanks to Julie ... she was wonderful to us and was a sweetheart! There were so many students that we met it was hard to keep names straight. Thanks to UCONN for helping Children's Miracle Network and CT Children's.
it means so much to us that we were able to participate in such a great event! Becca did get to walk the runway after the show... All I have to say is... wow! She even posed when she got to the end! i joked that next year they had to find a kids store to participate ..... Becca would love to model :)