Buddy Walk 2010

We participated in our very first Buddy Walk last Sunday, October 17th. It was absolutely a blast. Unfortunately, Eric, Mom J, and Doug couldn't make it because of the wedding plans they had already made. But the rest of us made do anyway. The walk was held at Saluda Shoals Park in Irmo, which is such a beautiful park.

A couple weeks ago I had gotten some T shirts printed for our team. They came out just wonderful! The printing company we used (Custom PrintWear in Lugoff) was a joy to work with.








The walk was so much fun. There was lots of food and fun. There were a ton of people there too.





Team Lilly Pad had a ton of support and did an excellent job fundraising, especially for our very first walk! We won 3rd place for fundraising! That is out of 36 teams!!! We ended up with a total of $2015. Thanks so much to everyone that showed their support. We almost won the youngest special buddy award, but it was yanked from us by a little girl just TWO days younger than Lilly, haha! Oh well.





It was amazing to meet all these incredible people and their families. I loved being surrounded by people who had been there done that and had walked in our shoes already. There were so many words of support from complete strangers. I had a grandfather of one of the kids come up to me and the other family with the baby girl. He had overheard our conversation about our girls needing heart surgery. He put his hand on my shoulder and reassured me that it would be the best thing that ever happened to our family. We would see such an amazing difference in our daughter once her heart was repaired. It made my day to hear that from someone who had already been through the fear, anxiety, followed by relief and joy after having their tiny baby go through a major heart operation.

I had never been around many people with Down syndrome my entire life. It was a relief to be surrounded that day. After this exciting day I came out of it with one feeling - They are all okay! They really are. Everything was fine and will be just fine once it's all said and done. It may sound silly if you've never been in my shoes, but trust me it's not. I have always had that fear deep down - what if it's not okay? What if she is not fine in life? But after that day I have been truly reassured that although it may not be easy, Lilly really will be just fine.

And with that I will leave you with a few more pictures of our day.




















One more thing! Let us not forget our other little friend Miss Abby in Connecticut. She did an amazing job fundraising for her Buddy Walk! She ended up in 9th place for fundraising. That is a monster feat seeing that her organization fundraised over $117,000!! That is just AMAZING! South Carolina has got a lot to look up to! Congrats to the awesome Pelletier Family!