Thursday, 3/20/14, was the annual ECC Jog-A-Thon and we couldn’t help but think what a difference a year makes!  This time a year ago, we were just coming home from the hospital and recovering from Travis’ brain surgery.  We had friends stopping by to show their support in so many amazing ways.  One of these amazing acts of support last year was that all of the kids in Travis’ class decided to dedicate their laps to him.  They made a sign that said: “Run for Travis, Your Laps Will Help Him Fight.”  Sarah brought the sign and another one that said “Welcome Home Travis” and hung them on our front door.  Amazing!  This year was no different only we were able to witness everything first hand.

Travis’ teacher, Mrs. Mills, asked the class to all wear their Travis the Warrior t-shirts for the event.  Then, several of the other teachers decided that their kids could wear them too.  So, we show up to behold a sea of lime green showing their support for Travis.  Wow!  Standing there with goose bumps and trying to take it all in, it was easy to get a little choked up thinking about where we are now and the road we have traveled this last year to get here.

To start out, the kids do a little warm-up for a few minutes and then they are off and running.  Even though Travis doesn’t have his strength back yet and he still has some neuropathy in his feet, he does get these little bursts of energy and he takes off running for a little bit.  So, we were just hoping that he would be able to walk the track for the duration and maybe jog a little if he felt up to it.  Don’t you know, as soon as they started the run, he took off and ran the first half of a lap.  We were a little surprised and it was hard to keep up with him especially with all of the other kids running too.  Then we walked a couple of laps and ran a bit more.  One of the other fifth grade teachers, Mrs. D., had her dog, Lola, so she let Travis walk Lola around the track for a while.  That was perfect!  Once Lola had enough, we ran and walked a little bit more.  We are not sure how many laps we actually did (Travis says 10), but that doesn’t matter.  The thing that matters is that we were out there!  To finish things off, when they announced there was 30 seconds left, Travis decided he would run it out and finished on that strong note.  He is a Warrior!  Speaking of Warriors, there were even a few Marines out to support the event too.  Pretty cool!

The Jog-A-Thon is always a super fun event but it was even that much more special for us this year.  What a difference a year makes!

Thanks,

Tony and Lynne