Golf for ACH

What a day!! I'm so grateful to work for companies that have always been such generous sponsors for Will Golf 4 Kids. Even before Brayden's diagnosis, it was our favorite event of the year. After his diagnosis, the reality of all that ACH does hit closer to home than I ever imagined. Suddenly the participation in the Will Golf 4 Kids golf event & Color of Hope Gala showed me first-hand all the good that comes from the generous donations of our community.

Our last visit to ACH was so impressive to see the new South Wing AND the highly anticipated Oncology Clinic! It's sad to think how much ACH had outgrown the old Oncology Clinic....and how sad it is that means more kiddos with cancer diagnosis needing their help. But the amazing volunteers and generous suppliers & donors last year contributed for the Oncology Clinic and living, breathing, seeing those donations at Brayden's last chemo treatment & procedures was inspiring. I wish everyone could see & witness this without the diagnosis that goes with it. We're so thankful for more space for the families to sit. Many times our monthly trips to ACH are more than 6 hours long (not including drive time). It breaks our hearts when sometimes walking into the old clinic there weren't any chairs. That's not good to make the correlation why it's so full. The fresh breath that the new waiting room along brought was so neat! Brayden couldn't try out the chairs before wanting to go outside & see the garden. It's beautiful and a fresh start & such a blessing for the families. We're SO grateful for this awesome facility and all the good it is doing for all the kiddos battling cancer, their families & the incredible staff! Thank you to all who helped make this possible!!

So to the golf!!!!! Today was the 19th annual Will Golf 4 Kids event. WOW! We were so thankful to get to golf as a family. Brayden just kept saying that if he gets to play next year, he'll be almost a year without chemo! We got there very early & were so blessed with a break in this awful heat & some cooler, beautiful weather to start the morning. It was so wonderful to see so many familiar faces from last year's event when Brayden was the Champion Child. There are MANY ACH workers that spend an enormous amount of time & work to make this event happen. The local volunteers & organizers never cease to amaze me to put together such an amazing event. We had such a great time getting to golf & Brayden did amazing! His stamina was still a little low & he's pretty sore tonight, but it's a good kind of sore and a good pain to have. He'll push every time to play golf because he just loves it so much & it's such a great opportunity he doesn't want to pass up!

Here are a few pictures from today! We're excited tomorrow to attend the Color of Hope gala, only this year, as participants and cheer on the new Champion Family. Brayden said this year he won't be so nervous so he'll be able to eat this time! Bless his heart! We were all so nervous last year to get up in front of that big group that none of us really ate anything! This is such a wonderful event & we can't wait to attend and again celebrate how far Brayden has come & how much we love ACH & all they've done for our family. PS - some of the wonderful volunteers there today took a pic of Brayden & uploaded it to their facebook account. Brayden's pics got more likes than any other post! How neat is that!?!?!? Check it out by clicking here! Happy 100th Birthday, ACH!