On A Completely Unrelated Note...

I will be embarking in a grand endeavor on Sunday. I will be attempting to challenge myself, yet again, physically and mentally: This time with the Colorado Colfax Marathon. If I have learned anything in life about life, it would be that testing your limits is the only true way of reminding yourself of what it's all about. Life should consist of pain, competition, sweat in the eyes, sunshine on your skin, cheers, and fears. Wish me luck!!

You Inspire Me

One of the coolest things happened this week. I walked into school and there were all of these kiddos wearing this shirt:

It was so amazing! In support of my fund-raising efforts, a group of families in the community that I grew up in joined together to create this shirt as well as a dinner event next Sunday.

The shirt is for sale to anyone interested for $12 by emailing inspiredbyryan@comcast.net for order information.

The fund-raiser is going to be May 4th from 5-8pm at the Copper Fox--located on the NE corner of County Line and Holly. Dinner will be a southwestern buffet. There will also be a "balloon silent auction" and it should be a tremendous amount of fun! I am thoroughly looking forward to spending time with my old swimmers and neighbors who have always INSPIRED me!!

If interested, RSVP to Jan Wondra at 303-770-1444.

I am so pleased to announce that the gala was a huge success! It was so beautiful to be in the presence of such wonderful people and such a reminder of all the love in the world. After it was all said and done, the gala raised just around $10,000 for my travels. I cannot begin to thank all of the generous people who, at many times, put their lives on hold just to make sure this event would be amazing.

A special thanks to Yasmin, Patrick, Julia, Lauren, Cara, Amanda, Kanako, and Erin for one of the most memorable, exciting moments of my life!

The Great Gala

This Sunday evening is my gala event. There are plenty more tickets available, so please pass the word along. In fact, the rumor mill called to tell me that there may be some national media there of some sort...shhhh. Nonetheless, the night will be filled to the brim of delicious food, great conversation, amazing performances, and memories in the making.

A brief agenda for the evening:

Doors will open at 6pm for cocktails and the silent auction browsing. At 7pm dinner will commence consisting of a brilliant Persian feast. Close to 8pm there will be a full program of entertainment including some words by Amanda Boxtel, who is a huge motivating factor in this whole thing and I am so grateful to have her! There will also be performances by kids in the community, of which I am absolutely amazed by. Following the program, the silent auction will be called. There are currently 31 items up for auction, including a week-long stay in Mexico! Ole'! The night will wind down with some casual time at the end to chat and dance, probably well beyond my bedtime.

I hope to see you there:)

Incommunicado For the Next Few Days

I am utterly thrilled to take a break in all of this hustle and bustle that I call my life to visit my dearest friend, Sarah, next week. Sarah will be accompanying me to India this summer as she has been one of my main supporters for the past ten years. Sarah currently lives in France (as of the beginning of the year) and so we agreed through a virtual handshake over the phone lines that we would share the transportation costs to make sure that I could somehow be a part of her new life in Limoges. Sarah is currently living at a Buddhist retreat center, so I will have the privilege to attempt some much-needed meditation myself.

Travel has always been a welcomed struggle for me. I think that airports alone invite such wondrous adventures. I will be flying into Paris, followed shortly by a train ride south...This sort of makes me nervous as I remember not being able to fit in European trains, or European anythings for that matter. Once I arrive in Limoges, I will be staying in Sarah's boyfriend's office where they are fashioning a ramp out of an old door for me as we speak!

To be honest, as uplifting and encouraging as my life has been the last few months it is quite exhausting! I am so looking forward to sharing stories about these remarkable moments over a cafe au lait with Sarah. It's been tremendously hard to only be able to talk to Sarah at limited moments between my days and her sleep. I am in dire need of my bestest friend, my #1 fan, and my soul sister Sarah! I will make sure to share with her all of the stories of my recent journeys here and hopefully I will do justice portraying all of the wonderful people standing directly behind me.

If Only In My Dreams...

Last night I had my first dream of being in India. I have been waiting for this moment; for it tells me simply that all true reality is first felt within your dreams.

This dream was made possible through all of the comments, all the emails, cards and donations, and especially the well-wishes brought on by the rippled-effect of people that I have come across sometime in my short 27 years.

If nothing more was to come out of this experience beyond today, I would be fully content knowing that my life has been changed forever. Few will ever quite understand the expression of love and support that I have felt in these past few months. It is quite a shame that the likes of this response isn't felt by all throughout the world as frequent as it could.

Simply put, I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for touching my heart the way each of you have. Your encouragement is immeasurable. Your compassion is unforgettable.

Rocky Mountain News Article & More

In today's paper there is an article about my trip and all of the fund-raising efforts. Thank you so much for all of you who have taken a moment out of your day for me...

Also, 9News is doing a two-part story starting tomorrow (Wednesday) night at 10pm. I anticipate the story will recall moments from my accident all the way through to highlighting the goals and expectations I have for my upcoming treatment. Stay tuned!