Sunday, December 6, 2009

Read Me! I'll Be Here All Week for Emma! I'm Not Leavin' Until You Read Me!

So, hey everybody!

I am going to leave this post up all week, so you won't hear anything new out of me until next Sunday. I think it is important that this stay up all week long so ALL of my fantabulous readers have a chance to not only find out about an extraordinary first grader named Emma, but how YOU, yes you, can help her.

Emma's mother, Jaime, has two blogs: Revenge of the Book Nerds and The Strength of a Mother and Her Daughter . The second blog is all about her daughter Emma.

Emma was a healthy, normal baby until she suffered an act of child abuse called Shaken Baby Syndrome. She has since suffered through brain surgery; intensive physical, occupational, and speech therapy; a feeding tube; having to wear a helmet, a leg brace, an arm brace, and loss of vision due to brain damage. You can read more here and here about Emma's past, as well as see pictures of this phenomenal cutie pie!

Present day, she is five years older, has cerebral palsy on her left side, is just starting to walk, and is cognitively and speech delayed. She no longer has to wear a helmet because of her last surgery!

Because Emma can't walk well, she needs a way to get exercise. This is where YOU ALL come in! Yay! This will be Emma's Christmas gift.

There is a company that makes bicycles for special needs children. The bikes are fitted to each individual child and then made specifically for that child. These bikes are not covered by insurance and are extremely expensive. It would be amazing for Emma to have her own bicycle so she can play with the other kids outside in the spring and feel like all the other children. Remember how much you loved your first bicycle?

So, here, on Jaime's site, through Paypal, YOU can donate some money for this extraordinary child to receive the best Christmas gift ever! I also have the donation widget at the top of my blog. The money goes directly into an account at Freedom Concepts (the company who makes the bikes).

The bike will cost around $3,700, so every dollar donated will help so much! Please give what you can. If the donations go over the amount for the bike, then the leftover money will go into a fund for other children to receive these special bikes!

I know that sometimes people don't donate because they can't afford to donate a large amount. I have been guilty of this myself. But, even a $1 donation will bring Emma one step closer to this bicycle!

Thank you for taking the time to read this post and Jaime's posts! I don't know Jaime or Emma personally, but I can imagine that this is so exciting for Jaime and I hope that we can all help her buy the best and most beneficial Christmas gift for Emma ever!!

Happy Holidays!!

9 comments:

  1. This is a wonderful post!!! I love it! I will be going over there to donate. I don't have much but the widow's mite is just as important as the rich man's gold, right? lol. Thanks for posting this so we have an opportunity to bless this little girl!

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  2. This is a heart warming post. I hope Emma gets her bike.

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  3. I just wanted to swing by and tell you THANK YOU!!! What a wonderful and eloquent post. You summed up things I haven't been able to. Believe me, this is such an enormous help. We thank you so much for going above and beyond for "strangers". Emma is a great girl and she really deserves some opportunities in her little life that was stolen from her 2004. Since she was shaken, so many people have been unbelievably kind and supportive, people who have never met either of us. All I want for Emma is to have a happy life. That's it.

    As you said, $1 will go so, so, so far. More then people realize. If 1,000 people donate $1, that brings us closer $1,000 closer to buying her bike!!! Sadly, insurance will not cover the bike and I don't make enough money to buy one outright, I would be saving for over a YEAR to get it!

    As you said above, the donations goes in to Emma's account DIRECTLY at Freedom Concepts. We don't EVER see a penny of it. With as many scams that are going on out there, I want to reiterate that the money goes directly to the company.

    We are doing a walk against child abuse in April (Child Abuse Prevention Month) for our Children's Hospital and it would be so cool for her to be cruising along on the route on her bike! We have done a few events to help raise awareness of the dangers of shaking babies.

    Thank you, thank you and thank you!
    Jaime and Emma

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  4. What a nice thing to do. I have a great daughter! I'm on my way over there.

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  5. Amy and Jaime, big hugs.
    Amy thanks for dedicating your post to this, a wonderful thing to do!
    Jaime, thanks for being an awesome mom. Emma will get her bike, hopefully soon!
    Going to go do my part!
    Lauren xo

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  6. How nice of you! I hope she gets her bike and will donate next pay day! I left you an award. Have a great day.

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  7. This is so nice and thoughtful!!! I really hope she gets her bike :)

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  8. So good of you to let us all know about such a good cause!

    Thank-you for all of your very sweet visits--sorry I've been so slow to come and say so! Life gets way too busy sometimes! Hope you and your family are warm & cozy in this cold December weather!

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  9. Just donated. What an incredible cause. How wonderful of you to post about this!

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