UPDATE OCTOBER 15, 2009 - GREAT NEWS! On October 8, 2008 President Bush signed into law the Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act, S 1810, known as the Kennedy-Brownback bill. NDSC and NDSS have been working with Senate and House staff and advocates since 2005 to develop and pass this important legislation. Now our challenge is to get funding (Which sounds like it could take a year or more) but the best part is your donation helps fund this newly signed law. THE GOVERNMENT HAS NO FUNDING FOR THIS LAW - it is up to us

 Read the law here: 

 http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c110:1:./temp/~c110GzP965::

We can't be more excited about this new law, but it is up to us to get funding and not wait for the government to fund it. So your help is appreciated!

UPDATE OCTOBER 8, 2009 - One Marathon down, one to go. What an amazing experience running the Portland Marathon was. Everything went perfectly and I finished in a time of 3:43:01. Crazy thing is I can't wait to run the next one since this one was so much fun. We have all done an amazing job of raising money so far, but have a long way to go so I ask that if you haven't yet donated or know someone who will, please do so before November 30th.

Thank you for visiting my fundraising page! Imagine running a marathon - now imagine running 2 of them in a span of 8 weeks. That's how committed I am to raising money for the Down Syndrome Community. I am running the Pacific Northwest Double - Portland Oct 5th and Seattle Nov 30th and need your support.

When our beautiful son, Gage was born in June 2005 we were told a few minutes after his birth by the doctor that he thought Gage may have Down Syndrome and the prognosis of his ever being functional in society was bleak. These horrific words came from a doctor who happen to be on-call at the hospital that day.  The hospital didn't have the results back before we left for home and didn't give us any information before we left.  Hours after we arrived home we received a phone call from our first pediatrician - Gage has Down Syndrome - here is a website and good luck.  We were in shock!  Nothing could describe the feelings that ran through myself, my wife, and Gage's grandmother as we sat silently looking at each other in the living room.  We had no idea what to expect out of life or where to start - except for a web link.  Most hospitals give out NO education materials of what Down Syndrome is or what absolutely terrific and beautiful kids and adults they grow up to be.

Gage turned 3 this past June and is an active and smart little boy. He is learning to communicate through sign language and non-verbal's and has started speech therapy.  Gage loves baseball (The Mariners especially), playing, and giggling as he does something he isn't suppose to be doing - the giggle usually gets him caught before he gets into to much trouble.

I have chosen to raise funds for the Down Syndrome Community of King County (Seattle) and asked the funds to be directed to the education of parents about Down Syndrome, especially at the time of birth in addition to supporting the medical and therapy needs of the children. DSC's website is http://www.downsyndromecommunity.org/

Your donation will benefit the many families that experience the life-changes aspects of having a child with Down Syndrome becoming a part of their life. We are blessed to have such a beautiful son as Gage is and he has been fortunate with generally good health, but not all families are so lucky.

I ask that you sponsor me in my quest to complete BOTH the Portland (completed Oct 5th) and Seattle (Nov 30th) Marathons and challenge you to donate as I have challenged myself to give all that I have to give in completing both marathons and still have fun. I've posted an example training schedule in case you were curious what one looks like to successfully complete a marathon http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/inter2.html

The challenges that the marathon training brings is nothing compared to what the people born with Down Syndrome endure everyday. Give what you can and together we will make a difference in the lives of the people with Down Syndrome. I am hoping to raise a minimum of $150 for every mile I run in the marathon, so I need your help. Tell everyone you know to come to this page and donate.

Take care

Bob