Baby Steps

At 7 1/2 months old Jameson should be on the verge of crawling, but he can not. Though not for lack of trying, the arms he was born with just won’t co-operate. Grunting and groaning he gives up. Instead, he wants you to hold him so that he can stand and take baby steps. I don’t blame him. I tear up watching his attempts at crawling and wonder why this has to be the way my baby starts life.

Tomorrow, we leave for Portland and it could not come any sooner! With all his current frustrations going on it is perfect timing for our trip! FINALLY, we get to start the process for Jameson’s first set of little “hands”. This will not be an easy four days especially for a young baby. The arms will be custom-built for him and he will not have the finished pair for another four weeks. But, in the mean time we hope he will receive a set of “practice” arms to get him going on this intense learning process.

Even though we are excited to begin the journey, there is still a long hard road to travel. As we set out, we are very grateful to the people who have shown such love and support to our little family! This has helped me to remain strong and be able to show my son how to reach for the sky, no holding back!!!

Thankful For So Much!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and my husband and I are thankful for so much! The most important thanks of all is of course, our son Jameson. We are so thankful for our beautiful child and that he is healthy.

We are also very thankful to all of the support and love that we have received on Jameson’s behalf. Thanks to all of you we have now raised $8,920.76!!! What an amazing amount of progress we have made! We are even closer to getting Jameson’s first set of little “hands”! Thank you, Thank you all and have a VERY Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Jameson is ready for his first Turkey Day!

My Daddy Rocks

As far as daddy’s go, Jameson has won the jackpot! They are so beautiful together, his dad could not love him more!

In the News

We were completely surprised when two local news stations came to interview us at our pancake fundraiser. The reporters were so touched by our story that they were immediately on board to help spread the word of Jameson’s need. Despite being completely caught off guard, unprepared, and nervous our interview went very well. I had to pull incredible strength from within just to hold it together and not cry. It has not been very easy for me to talk about. I always try to put on a brave face, especially in front of my son.

That Saturday evening KXLY News channel 4 ABC-affiliate and KHQ News channel 6 NBC-affiliate aired our story. Sunday morning we were flooded with well wishers, advice, and kind donations. The overwhelming love and support that came from our community was incredible! One of the most touching donations came from a 6 year boy who told his mom that he wanted Jameson to have $5 from his piggy bank. I had tears in my eyes. Every donation big or small means the world to us! Click on the links below to see the interviews that aired on TV!

Hands For Jameson. and http://www.kxly.com/news/video/-/116140/-/rclegbz/-/index.html?v=32401

During Interview

Caring,Sharing and Pancakes!

Hands For Jameson Pancake Breakfast Fund Raiser!

The very first Hands For Jameson fund-raising event was a huge success! A group of amazing people came together Saturday morning to support our little guy and enjoy yummy pancakes too! Family, friends, and new friends lovingly gave donations as they enjoyed a warm breakfast. Jameson was such a good trooper despite missing his morning nap, he graciously gave out snuggles and stole many hearts!

Thanks to our friends, the Murphy Family, we were welcomed with open arms into their beautiful home. Pancakes, sausage, coffee, and all the fixin’s were donated by our sweet friend Emily Murphy and her wonderful associates at Sysco Foodservice of Spokane. We are extremely happy to say that the mornings generous donations raised $1,800!!!! Thank you again for all the love and support! We love you guys!

If that was not enough we were pleasantly surprised when two local T.V. news stations came out to interview us. Thanks to Meegan Donoghue Richardsonan, a childhood friend, who told the two stations about Jameson. They were touched by our story and wanted to help spread the word. What an amazing day for us!

Stay tuned for more details of our interview in my next blog post! For now, here are some pictures of the event:)

Getting Closer

A BIG HUGE thank you to all of you that have donated to Hands For Jameson!!! With your kind donations we have been able to apply $2,151.48 toward our prosthesis bill. His first appointment is now scheduled for the end of November. Just $11,343.54 to go for the first set of Jameson’s “hands”. We feel so blessed to have so many people come forward and want to help our precious little guy! Keep spreading the word. And again, thank you everyone!

Finally Got The Call!

We do not have the entire $13,495.02 and STILL need your help. BUT, thanks to the generosity of Jameson’s kind supporters so far we were able to make a small down payment on the prosthesis bill! This qualified us for his first fitting. We are on our way to Portland Oregon November 26th thru the 29th! So exciting!

Last week I had been in contact with the head billing office asking them to please let Jameson get started (he grows frustrated everyday). I assured them that a payment was on its way. So,we finally got the call and scheduled his first fitting appointment. This will be a 3 day long process, where he will be measured, casted, and put through physical therapy. It’s going to be a long 3 days, not to mention the 7 hour drive each way,but we are looking forward to starting this journey. We’ll do anything to help provide a better life for Jameson. Thanks again for those of you that have donated and those of you who still plan on it!

A Long Way To Go

As of Nov. 10th Hands For Jameson has collected $1,500.00! Yay!

Thanks to all the kind people who donated! A BIG thank you to you!

BUT, we have a LONG way to go. The total for Jameson’s FIRST of many sets of prosthesis came to $24,563.06. Our insurance would not accept our claim unless we submited a memo bill first. This means we have already been billed before receiving treatment. They only covered $11,068.04. We must come up with $13,495.02.

This memo bill came to us Nov. 6th. and the Provider wants it paid in full by December. We wish we could write that check ourselves but, sadly we cannot. We had hoped to have found a less expensive treatment, unfortunatly we did not. We were turned down by Shriner’s and Children’s Hospitals because they lack prosthetic departments here in Washington State. Jameson is on several waiting lists for foundations that help provide assistance to children in need of prosthesis but that takes awhile and we have already been turned down by a few because we have insurance.

Our hope is that all of you can help. A LITTLE donation is BIG to Jameson.

Pregnancy Stuck It To Me

To be able to FINALLY hold my baby in my arms I had to endure a bit of pain.Twice daily injections of Heparin helped prevent blood clots that could have potentially jeopardized my baby.This is what I needed to do in order to keep my blood thin enough during my pregnancy.

The perfect end result!

Amazing Determination

 

Lately, Jameson has been a bit frustrated. Things are not easy for him but he’s been giving it all that he’s got. I watch him in amazement while he tries to reach for toys, grab toys, put EVERYTHING in his mouth, push himself up, hold his bottle. Tasks that would be a piece of cake for a baby with hands. Even though his determination is amazing it still makes me a little sad.