Steps Toward A Cure

The Bubela family...Carolyn, Brent, Kate, Carlee & Jax picked me up Friday morning and we headed to the Great Wolf Resort in Grapevine.  More about this resort in a separate post.

Our reason for the trip was the Dravet Syndrome Foundation's "Steps Toward A Cure."  The walk, this one in Frisco, was one of nine, I think.  Brent's brother Bert and his wife Leslie, have two children.  Their daughter Paige is 3 years old and their son Will  is 15 months old.  Will was diagnosed with Dravet's Syndrome. You can read more about this devastating illness here.


Saturday morning we got up bright and early and after a quick breakfast in the room we loaded up in the car and drove to Frisco.  It was cool and drizzly, but that didn't stop any of us.  Many of Bert's family and friends from El Campo, Houston and Austin made the trip to lend their support.  Leslie's family and friends were also there.  There are two other children in the Frisco area with Dravet Syndrome, so their supporters were also there.  It was a good group.

There were door prizes, refreshments and Home Depot supplied small message center kits for children to nail and glue together.  After all the participants had completed registration, we gathered at the start point of the walk in Frisco Commons.  We walked through the park and the woodsy areas...thank goodness for the wide concrete path.  As I said, it was drizzly and never got too much worse than that.  And that was a blessing.  We were meant to make two circuits, about a mile each, but decided to omit the second one.  That was good news for me as I was pushing Jax in the stroller...in the rain, uphill all the way.

Once back at the covered pavillion, door prizes were given away.  Then raffle items, a number of which had been donated by friends and family here, were drawn.  And a number of the friends and family here were lucky winners.  In fact, we had to start refusing them...making them draw again, because our names kept getting drawn.

After all that, Bert was able to announce that the Frisco walk had taken in more than $40,000...the most of any of the walks.  The original goal for all the walks was $80,000.  I hope that the rest of the walks did well and that the final number is much higher.

You might also want to read "Will's Story" at the Dravet Syndrome Foundation website.   If you want to donate, click Bert Bubela's Fundraising Page or Brent Bubela's Fundraising Page.