About Me

United States
My fiance (Joe) and I (Caytie) just delivered our third child. We have a son named Dustin, age 4, a daughter named Aryanna, age 1, and our new little bundle's name is Mira, and she has been diagnosed with spina bifida. She has a myelomeningocele, a chiari malformation, hydrocephalus, and a club foot. She had surgery the day after she was born on her myelomeningocele, and surgery when she was 6 days old to place a shunt in her brain. She is facing more surgeries, a lifetime of recovery and monitoring, and we will all be facing the journey of spina bifida. Prayers and kind thoughts are always welcome, and if our story can help others, that would mean the world to us. Spina bifida is a fairly common birth defect, but there's nothing normal about facing potential danger with your child. So this is our story, the journey of spina bifida, as we live it.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Benefit Dinner

The benefit dinner was on Saturday, June 15th. It was amazing! Words will never be able to describe how moving it is to see a community come together for someone else, my someone else, my daughter. 
My Dad and brother ran the kitchen. My Dad was a chef and restaurant manager for roughly 30 years, and my brother has fallen in his very big foot steps, so needless to say, the spaghetti was cooked perfectly al dente! So many family members helped in so many ways! My sister is a perfect planner and should really consider throwing events for a living because every detail is thought through and planned to the T when she's in charge! It was so beautiful!
Many people came, we had a really great turn out, and it was so nice to see all of our family members together and celebrating for Mira with the community. We had a great time, and we made enough money to where Joe and I agreed that we would share some of the proceeds with a couple other local families that also have babies with spina bifida. 
We wore t-shirts to honor Mira, purple (the awareness color for the Arnold chiari malformation) shirts  with yellow (the awareness color for spina bifida and hydrocephalus) print. I also made tons of little yellow ribbon pins for everyone that attended, and I made a few extra into hair bows for Aryanna and I. 
We had a 50/50 raffle every hour and a Chinese auction that had over 60 items (including steelers tickets, corn hole boards, hundreds of, if not over a thousand, dollars worth in gift cards, and so much more!) The gentleman who won the first 50/50 drawing insisted that I take his winning ticket, and while I don't know your name sir, I thank you, because you were so kind, and I don't think I'll ever forget my interaction with you. It was amazing seeing complete strangers, old friends, acquaintances, and family members alike gathered and having a blast to come support my daughter.
At the end of the night, Joe and I went in front of everyone, took the microphone, and personally thanked all that attended, donated, and worked so hard. I got about three words into my 'speech' when I started crying. It was really amazing, to stand before a crowd of people, some who don't know me, my daughter, or spina bifida from a hole in the ground, yet to feel how loved and supported we were! To just spend a day constantly seeing and feeling how much Mira matters to so many people, to see how many people are pulling for her, thinking of her, praying for her, and loving her! It was beautiful! It was absolutely beautiful!











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