Hi everyone:

Thank you for visiting "Cooper and Carson's gift to Childrens Hosptial " personal fundraising page.  Cooper and Carson were born prematurely at 31  weeks. Both kids fought a tough battle. Carson spent 26 days in the NICU and Cooper spent 39. We thank God everyday for the nurses and doctors in the NICU at Children's Hospital - Fox Valley. If it weren't for them, I am not sure where we would be today.

As many of you may not know, Riley has also had her foot in the door at Children's. In September '05, Riley was diagnosed by accident with having A. Chiari Malformation. This is a benign structural problem affecting the cerebellum. Most children with these malformations who do not have spina bifida will have the form known as type I. Essentially there is extra cerebellum crowding the outlet of the brainstem/spinal cord from the skull on its way to the spinal canal. This crowding will commonly lead to headaches, neck pain, funny feelings in the arms and/or legs, stiffness, and more often will cause difficulties with swallowing or gagging.  This problem may stay the same or eventually get worse as she gets older. The only cure is surgery.

Also, Cooper had hernia surgery done on March 30th at Children's, and now, they both have been dx with  craniosynostosis.

It's been a long summer, but both kids Cranial Vault Repair (removal of the top section of skull, broke, reshaped, and placed back together with plates and screws) sugeries are over. We thnak god that everything went as planned.

We can not say enough about the surgeons we had. We take our hats off to  Dr. John Jensen our Cranial Facial Surgeon, Dr. Bruce Kaufmann - Cooper's Neurosurgeon, and Dr. Cheryl Muszynski - Carson's Neurosurgeon.

Now that both surgeries are over, we've decided to participate in the Briggs & Al's Run & Walk for Children's Hosptial . We feel the need to to help support the individuals that helped us through our tough times.

Please help us reach our goal so we can give back to those who helped us. Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to make a contribution to our fundraising efforts. Many thanks for your support -- and don't forget to forward this to anyone who you think might want to donate too!

Each year, more than 200,000 visits are made to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin by the children of our state, Michigan's Upper Peninsula and northern Illinois.

To represent these kids and their families, we invite patients of our Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care Units and Hematology/Oncology/Transplant Unit to be our featured guests at Briggs & Al's Run & Walk for Children's Hospital.