Hydrocephalus Walk

I guess we've had an incredibly busy few months, being that we are still posting pictures from mid September. In any case, we wanted to thank those of you who supported us in our hydrocephalus walk this year. It was a record breaking year in terms of the amount of rain we got. It was kind of ironic that the walk for the people with "water on the brain" was soaking us all with water. We laughed at the sopping wet signs we posted advertising free (bottled) water for the walkers. The few days prior to the walk the weather had been forecasting for downpours. We had no rain slickers for the kids, as we figured, if it was raining, we wouldn't be out in it with the kids at their age. So, the hunt for the raincoats in itself was something. FYI no one sells raincoats for two year olds in September. I had taken Sarah coat shopping with me in an effort to get her out of the house some. 7 stores and many a cookie bribes later, I stumbled across the pool clearance section at walmart and found buried in it 3 bug like rain coats for 5 year olds+. Bought 'em and rolled up their sleeves and it worked like a charm.

We got to the walk very early to help with the set up, and since it was a downpour we canceled almost all the activities and there was nothing to do but dance on the back deck. At first Ryan was scared by the rain, but after a few songs with mommy and some time with his daddy, he learned to love it.

The walk was held at Lake Arlington in Arlington Heights, which is about an hour North of us. The rain set a weather record that day as a full ten inches fell, not to mention the 4 inches from the previous day. In addition to making traffic a real bear and flooding many people's homes, the rain also took it's toll on Lake Arlington itself. Many of the docks and piers were washed out and flooded over and there were even parts of our trail that were completely underwater, so much that at one point we had an Otter swimming and playing alongside of us. Most of the photos we took just failed to capture the splendor if the moment. We did get one though. It's a playground that is normally about 20 feet from the water. As you can see, things were a bit different that day, remember to double click it to get its full majesty.

So we walked around the lake for our hydro walk with an impressive amount of dedicated walkers, and we remembered what it was like to be a kid playing in the rain. We had been kind of dreading the walk with the weather like it was, but it was actually a blast.

After our walk we found a big puddle away from the traffic, and we all played in it. Sarah would repeatedly bend over and dunk her head in the water and stand back up like she was in Flashdance, but because it was a mud puddle, she had mud water all over her face and it gave her a little Charlie Chaplin mustache. Unfortunately, at this point our camera gave up the good fight and we didn't get a picture of it... but we do have this for your viewing pleasure.



So, we as a family had a blast, as did most of the people braving the weather that day. As a group we raised nearly 30,000 dollars toward hydrocephalus research. Money that is very much needed. I hate to say it, but one of the families pictured in the group picture above lost their child to hydrocephalus about two weeks ago. I cannot really wrap my head around that idea, it is so heartbreaking. Hydrocephalus has a fatality rate of 10%. I like to think of that more in terms of there is a 90% chance that Perrin will be okay, and that the more verbal he becomes and can communicate how he feels, the less likely it will be an issue for him. That being said, it is a concern, and it remains a concern for the greater hydro community, not to mention those who aren't so lucky to have access to health care. Our Chicago Hydrocephalus Group is hoping to start making a difference in the lives of these kids, and our support to places such as the Holy Angels Hospice and Orphanage is just one example.

If there is anyone out there still interested in contributing, you can click on the link at the top left side of the blog under Team Fudd Fundraising. So, thank you to all of you who helped get us one step closer to a cure. I can't tell you how much it means to us.