Thank you for visiting. Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to make a contribution to my fundraising efforts. Many thanks for your support -- and don't forget to forward this to anyone who you think might want to donate too!

Hello everyone:

Thank you for visiting "Cole's Cranio Kids" personal fundraising page. 

I am updating my page a bit for you that have already read about my family. Unfortunately, we have another family that we would like to donate and walk for. 

Please read~

 May 17th, 2007 - "I think today was one of the toughest days of my life as being a mother of twins. Something happened today that I hoped I would never have to do.

A few months back a proud mother expecting twins arrived at our monthly twins club meeting. I remember sitting with her at our meeting, getting to know her, and learning about the beautiful girls that she would soon be delivering. Just a few days ago, that day finally arrived, but the totally unexpected happened. Her first daughter, Ruby came into the world at 4:51pm, and has been Diagnosed with having down syndrome. Her second daughter, Lydia, arrived at 4:53pm - still born.

How does this happened? Why does God do this?

Today was Lydia's visitation and service. I can't even begin to tell you how hard it was for my friend Jenni and I to see this family. No parent should ever have to go through this pain.

Please, If you have a free moment in your day, please say a prayer for this family. They are going to need every little bit they can get in the next couple of months."

We will be walking in memory of Lydia and for her twin sister Ruby.

For this, I have raised my donation goal to 3,000. Please help in anyway you can.

Thank you.

*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.

At 4 and 5 months, Carson and Cooper were both Dx with having Craniosynsotosis - premature closure of the skull bones. Surgery is the only cure.

Cooper and Carson both have had their Cranio Vault Repairs done for their Craniosynostosis. I can't believe it's been almost a year already since that has happend. Everyone is looking pretty good.

We will find out this summer if Cooper will need another surgery to fix his Metopic suture. They only were able to fix his sagittal last time because his skull bones were to thin. We will be keeping our fingers crossed that it will fix itself.

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.

We have stayed pretty much healthy execpt for Cooper's run in with rotavirus that put him back into Children's for a total of 7 days. I guess with 4 kids and 2 in school that stuff is bound to get around.

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.

Now that  surgeries are over for Carson and Cooper, 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!

Please do not shy away if our goal gets met. Every penny counts.

To give an example of the cost to stay at Children's hospital, our NICU bill for both kids was $750,00 without anything else - just room and board. If parents do not have insurance or a way to pay, the hospital eats the cost. We would like to help. Please help us. 

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.