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Christmas Please help me save a little boy's life and make Christmas SPECIAL!!

christopher

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Nov 1, 2008
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Rigby, Idaho
My friends.

For the last 10 years I have been the Admin here on the SnoWest forums and have never reached out to my fellow sledders for anything charity related. But I am about to change that.
Now I am going to tug at your great big frozen Blue-Bird Skies, Bottomless Champagne Powder heart strings.


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There is a very special young family that lives just across the street from me. They have 6 amazing young children, one of which is near and dear to my heart. I want to introduce you to little Ian, who was diagnosed at the tender age of 4yrs with ALL "Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia".

I want to see to it that this little boy has a chance to go SNOWMOBILING, and experience the sport all of us LOVE. Together "WE" can make a big impact on this little guy's life, and that of his entire family. Maybe its wildly selfish of me just because I know him personally, but I would like to see each of these kids on a sled up in the mountains experiencing what all of us have come to know and love. But especially little Ian. For that to happen, I need your help guys...

Sometimes our sport gets a BAD REP, here is a chance for us to rally together and push back against that by doing something great for a total stranger.


Last July little Ian's world got rocked pretty hard.
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From his mom's Facebook Page.
We never know what life will throw at us and lately our family has been put in a box a shaken multiple times. We will be 100% relying on Heavenly Father on our next journey that our sweet little boy will be on.

On Wednesday we took him the the doctor's for an x-ray and within a short time I was on a plane on our way to Primaries in Utah. They took a complete CBC and he was dangerously low. A mother never wants to hear that her baby has Leukemia. Yep, we will be battling the nasty "C" word.
Ian is a rockstar and is always smiling through it all. He will kick cancer's behind and we will all become stronger in the process.

We have already seen many miracles and a constant guiding hand from our Heavenly Father. We appreciate all of you who have jumped in or will continue to help care for my family, we are thankful for the love and support and all the kind words.

The doctor's here are amazing and he is in good hands. Please send prayers as we figure out his treatment plan, prayers for Ian's comfort and recovery, that his parents can make the best decisions for him, pray for his doctors and medical team and pray for my other kiddos.


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The next five months since the diagnosis of his cancer have been a true ROLLER-COASTER of emotions and challenges for the whole family. I could go into deep agonizing detail of all the family has been put through, (and if you really need to know, I will be happy to share with you) but suffice it to say ITS BEEN HELL.

Yesterday his mom (a member of our local congregation) asked me if I would come over and administer a blessing to her son, which I happily did. During the blessing I was given the most wonderful impression that Ian was one of Santa's little helpers, sent to this world to help OTHERS around him learn the true meaning of Christmas. That his mission was to spread Joy and Happiness. That through all of his struggles others might be lifted up. For no particular reason, I invited my eldest son to accompany me with the blessing yesterday, he drove about half an hour to come and join me. When the blessing of Ian was done, his mom asked for a blessing of comfort, and was given some much needed reassurances that the Lord was well aware of their situation and unique trials, and was looking out for them. When we were done, my son took a picture with Ian.

Then my son went and did something that just totally blew me away!. There are only a few moments in man's life when he KNOWS he raised his right, this was one of those moments! Pride is not always an evil thing, I am so proud of him I just don't have words!

From my Son's Facebook Page.
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This is my buddy Ian, he lives in Rigby. - He has ALL or Acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

I was planning a surprise trip to Disney World for New Year's eve this year for my wife. But Lauren and I have decided to match donations to Ian's medical costs equal to our trip instead!

We will match up to $1,250 in donations to fighting this awful disease.

As we can all imagine this time of year for a family with many kids and one bravely fighting cancer can be tough.

Let's see if we cant brighten Christmas just a hair for this family. When fighting for your child's life, money should be the last thing you have to worry about.



So.
My wife and I have decided to adopt this little family for Christmas and see to it that they have a most memorable Christmas inspite of all the chaos and stress and tears and torment of driving back and forth from Idaho Falls to SLC every week for the last 6 months, and all the damage this has done to their family and business.

And I AM REACHING OUT TO YOU to see if you would be willing to JOIN WITH ME in this endeavor.?
No matter what, I have committed to personally seeing to it that this little "Elf" is taken care of this Christmas, but OH WHAT WE COULD DO TOGETHER if we join forces!!

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Lets LIGHT HIS WORLD!

If you could find it in your heart to share a few dollars with this little boy and his family this Christmas season, I would like to present it to them on behalf of all the members of our snowmobiling community and let them know they are not alone in this.

Note: They do NOT have a Go Fund Me Page and they are NOT asking for help! Even though I know they could use it, rather they are doing absolutely everything they can to make it work on their own! All the more reason "I" find them to be so completely worthy of our special Christmas support!

My Son Chris DID set up a Go Fund Me page as part of his own personal Christmas challenge to his friends, and you are welcome to make use of that
https://bit.ly/2sXdJjb

BUT!

I am asking you to consider going the extra mile here.
Rather than just contributing a few dollars anonymously, put that money in an envelope, along with a CHRISTMAS CARD or a CHRISTMAS LETTER and send it to me, and allow me to deliver all of them at once en-mass as a TOTAL SURPRISE a couple days before Christmas.!!
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I know I am asking a lot, and I really have no right to do so, and i hope you will forgive me for doing so, but this is just an AWESOME FAMILY and an AMAZING LITTLE BOY that deserves our help.

Send your Cards & Letters to

SnoWest Forums
Ian's Christmas
PO Box 100
Rigby ID 83442

NOTE:
If you wish to send a personal check, make it out to "ERIC REESE", he is little Ian's Father.


For those that really want to know more, this is little Ian's Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/groups/502077150528018/

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Wishing you and yours a Very Merry Christmas!!
 
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christopher

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UPDATE...
from little Ian's FB page.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/502077150528018/

The past few days have been a blur... there is something known as being tired and then there is being chemo tired and worn out.

Ian spiked a fever of 102 this past Thursday and when we called oncology in Utah they told us to pack an overnight bag. We knew he was going to be admitted for at least 24-48 hours. They would need to run cultures and see if he had an infection that he was fighting. We were discharged on Saturday night and ended up back at the ER on Sunday morning because of complications with his port not giving us blood so we could get a CBC on him.

At the ER we ended up doing another nose swab and he was testing posative for Parainfluenza.... Again. ? The first time was on November 10th, November 29th and Dec 5th. This let us know that his body has not had the strength to fight the virus, and because he has had it so long, it was settling into his body and turing into a bacterial infection. He was immediately started on heavy doses of antibiotics.
We had noticed that the past two weeks his lab draws were becoming more difficult and today at Primary's we discovered that his body is seeing his port implant as a foreign object and it is trying to absorb it by covering it in fibrous tissue, blocking the catheter opening... Isn't the human body an amazing well oiled machine? That is until is starts interfering for his treatments. We were able to use some TPA, which breaks down the blockage.

Today was day one of a four day chemo treatment. We will be back home tonight and receiving the next three locally.
We have seen the hand of our Lord and Savior through out this journey, many times. We have had friends and family help out and we have received some blessings from many angels who are among us. You guys have inspired me to do better and work harder at sharing the Light of Christ with others. Ian has always done this 100% and he is teaching us how to smile through the hardest days. #Ianstrong


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PLEASE HELP ME MAKE THIS LITTLE GUY'S CHRISTMAS EXTRODINARY
 

christopher

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So who's gonna take em out sledding? Is there local guys or?
Now that is a GREAT QUESTION!
Lets get this little kid WELL and past the miserable freaking sickness, and when the time comes I will be more than happy to post it here and invite EVERYONE that participated to come on out!
What an awesome day that would be!

The poor little guy is UP one day, outside in the front yard running around, and literally hours later he is back in the ER.
A 5yr old body was just NOT made to handle that Chemo Drugs they are giving him.
Its BRUTAL on him.

One of the things he loves are "Otter Pops".
So this summer I stocked up on a couple hundred of the silly things.
So any time he walked across the street to come and say hello (as I work from home) I would always have one for him.
Sadly, my freezer in the garage is still mostly full of them.:cry:

One of the nasty side effects for little kids is the massive weight loss they suffer.
So early on in the treatment program they try really hard to FATTEN THEM UP as much as possible so they will have enough body mass just to SURVIVE the harder chemo..
 

OCDsledder

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I’m sitting at DIA waiting for my next flight, reading this and trying to keep my eyes dry. It’s not working. I’ll try to get a card in the mail as soon as I can or donate on the site.
Prayers for Ian and his family.
Bless you Christopher for being such a great and caring neighbor.
 

christopher

Well-known member
Staff member
Lifetime Membership
Nov 1, 2008
81,512
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Rigby, Idaho
I’m sitting at DIA waiting for my next flight, reading this and trying to keep my eyes dry. It’s not working. I’ll try to get a card in the mail as soon as I can or donate on the site.
Prayers for Ian and his family.
Bless you Christopher for being such a great and caring neighbor.

This is what I absolutely LOVE about our community.
Ya, we all behave like a bunch of rowdy hard core snow slayers on the outside, but the truth be known, most sledders have a HEART OF GOLD on the inside.
Thanks for helping me in this little Christmas surprise of mine.!!
 

live2beel

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Christopher, who do we make the check out to if we send a card? I’m in for sure!! We will get it out tomorrow.
 
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