Join “Team Rudy” Today!

You may recall that in celebration of Rudy’s birthday last October, our family and some friends participated in the American Heart Association’s Santa Barbara Heart Walk to raise funds for pediatric research and programs.  At the time of the walk, we were anticipating and very excited about a trip to UCLA for Rudy’s next heart cath and, we hoped, the green light to move forward with Rudy’s next heart surgery.  As most of you know, the news from Rudy’s heart cath on October 21^st was not what we had hoped.  Not only was Rudy not ready for his heart surgery but he was officially declared not a candidate for surgery or a heart transplant at all because of high pulmonary pressures and poor lung function in general.  Shocked and in disbelief we sat with two of Rudy’s cardiologists after the cath to try to understand what options Rudy had.  In short, they described that Rudy had exhausted his current medical options but that we shouldn’t lose hope because “there may likely be treatment options available to Rudy in 6 months that aren’t available today”.

At the time, this felt very daunting and the wind was certainly taken out of our sails but in the 10 months since, we have been encouraged by Rudy’s growth, developmental progress and obvious love for life.  As a result, we are hopeful that God is, indeed, allowing Rudy time – valuable time that could very well provide new treatment options for him.    We are motivated more than ever to help in the effort to raise research funds.  Last year, our team (Dr. Harake’s Moms with Heart) raised over $10,000 for pediatric research through the Heart Walk campaign ~ an amazing success!  We certainly surpassed all our fundraising expectations going into it and, more importantly, it was a meaningful experience for our family and such a special birthday celebration for Rudy.

For all of these reasons, our family is excited to participate, once again, in this very personal campaign to celebrate Rudy turning 3 years old in just two months!!  By participating in this year’s Heart Walk on Saturday, October 8^th, we hope to recruit a team and raise another $10,000 in research funds vital to a potentially healthy and active future for Rudy and kids like him.  Will you consider joining us by donating today or joining “Team Rudy” in Rudy’s honor?

To visit our family’s personal donation page, follow these simple steps:

1.  Go to “www.sbheartwalk.com”
2. Click “Donate” on the Home Page
3. Enter my name:  First Name “Trish”, Last name “Geyling” and click “Search”
4. Follow the instruction to click on our family’s name and you’re there!!

Here’s some more specific information:

The 20^th Annual Santa Barbara Heart Walk

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Fess Parker’s Doubletree Resort:  Registration at 9:00am – 5k Walk at 10:00am

Let’s Party!!!

For those of you who are close enough to walk the walk in person, we will gather the morning of the event, distribute “Rudy blue” Happy Birthday balloons to all the “party walkers” and celebrate with cake and party favors at the finish line!!  What a great way to spend a gorgeous October morning in Santa Barbara!  We hope you can join the fun.  Let us know you’re coming and we’ll reserve a balloon for you! 🙂 (rsvp to trish@silverbytrish.com)

2010 Fundraising results!!! 

Look close…Rudy’s family and friends were #1 and Logan’s family and friends were #2 ~ We were neighbors in the CTICU at UCLA and forever partners in our SB Heart Walk efforts!  Santa Barbara Heart Families ROCK!

Join our WINNING Team!!!