Shannon, friends, family, and strangers--
A thank you letter does not seem sufficient for the gift that you gave us! I will try to convey in written words how thankful we are for your love and generosity. Since the birth of Christian, I have been blown away by the care, love, prayers, and financial support of family, friends, and strangers. Christian has taught me many lessons, one of which is accepting help and setting aside pride. We do need each other in different times of our lives. Sometimes we are the giver and sometimes we are in need of the giving. You all have blessed us by being givers (blessers)! Thank you so much for your contribution to Christian's life!
I am privilaged to know Shannon and her family through her sister in law Leah. I knew I liked Shannon the minute I met her. My first impression of her was that she was fun, had a genuine heart, and loved God! Time and again she has sent me a message of encouragement at just the right time. Thank you Shannon for the time, energy, physical stress, and heart that you have put in to my sweet Christian's life. Thank you for being Christian's legs! One day I hope that he can be someone else's legs and pay this forward. This was the best birthday present ever!
What did Shannon do??
For those of you who may be reading this and wondering what this post is all about I will fill you in. Shannon Parks was training for a marathon and as she was training decided that she wanted to run 26.2 miles for a reason. She decided to run for Christian. She emailed her friends and family to ask them to sponsor her and give towards Christian's medical expenses. We did not know any of this! She ran the Honolulu Marathon in 4:44:24!!! I'm very impressed! Shannon's sister in law , who is one of my best friends came down for my birthday (which was the day of the race) to deliver the money that was raised. I thought she was just coming down for my bday. I didn't make it past the first sentence of the letter! What an amazing blessing.
Update on Christian
At this point Christian's biggest goals are to gain more independence with walking and sitting. We are working towards taking more steps in our walker, learning how to sit by himself. Currently he can take steps in his walker (about 5 at a time, rest, go again). His trunk is stronger but he still doesn't catch himself if he starts to fall (while sitting). He has been on the Ketogenic Diet for 6 months and continues to do well. His seizures have decreased from 30 a day to 4 a day. We are still praying and working towards seizure freedom! Christian continues to be the smile in my day!
On behalf of the Russell family thank you from the bottom of our hearts! You are making a difference in Christian's life! I will be posting a video soon!
