come run with us, and other updates

Thanks to our good friend Mandy we’ve now officially entered our first 5K run to benefit Because of Ezra (among others). If you live in the Tampa area, come out Saturday, February 26th for the Publix Gasparilla Distance Classic run. Most of us will be doing the 5k run – but if you’re not a runner don’t let that discourage you! They also have a 5k walk, and even a 5k stroller walk. They’ve also got longer runs if you’re one of those crazy runner folk. Since we’d love to get a ton of folk out there running to support Because of Ezra, anyone who donates more than $25 to Because of Ezra during the registration process will get a free tshirt to wear race day! We’d love to see lots of people running with BoE shirts.

When you register for the race (which costs $25) through this link, there will be an option to choose if you’d like to ALSO donate to a charity. Choose Because of Ezra, and if you give $25 or over, let us know your tshirt size and we’ll have one for you a few days before race day! You’ll need to either Facebook us or email us using the contact link on the right of TheMatthewsStory.com or on BecauseOfEzra.org. Some have asked if it’s better to give directly to us than through the registration process – if you are actually planning on doing the race, then no, it doesn’t matter. The run doesn’t take any percentage out, so 100% of the charity donation you send to Because of Ezra comes to us. The $25 registration fee of course goes to the race.

In other updates… well, there’s so many. We’ve been busy little bees, trying to work as hard as we are resting. Charley is doing great, he has grown so much, and he is developing well. He’s a stubborn little boy with a hidden smile, but he shows it if you work for it. 🙂 Our nursing is most likely going to be cut back from 24 hours to 8-12 (daily) at the end of this month, and so Robyn will be working even more with him. We’ve been blessed to have had this coverage the last few months – they were rough times for us, and the nursing coverage was so appreciated. Things are still hard mentally and emotionally, but we are gathering ourselves together best we can. Life doesn’t seem to take any breaks.

Because of Ezra is shaping up very fast – we’ll be in LA in 2 weeks to meet with the folks of NANT, as well as some folks we’ve been emailing quite a bit who it looks like will be a big help in this adventure. We’re working on a lot of new content for the website (becauseofezra.org – btw, are you our friend on Facebook? 😉 you totally should be…), and shaping up some very cool things for the rest of this year. Lawyers, doctors, and volunteers – oh my! We’ll try to update here as well as through the Because of Ezra Facebook page as we schedule more things – but it’s an exciting time. We will be effective at pushing awareness and funding into this cause. Did you know of the money the US government puts into cancer research, less than 3% goes to pediatric cancer research? ALL pediatric cancer? Drug companies don’t do much either, as pediatric cancer is much less profitable than adult cancer. Wow, huh?

That’s enough for now… there’s so much to share, but I’ll let you know more as we get everything more solidified. I miss Ezra every day, and we are committed to doing all we can to stop other families from having to feel this.