Day +362

We’re 5 days out from the blood drive and are really picking up steam on enrollments (THANK YOU)! A huge shout out to D’Agostino’s for putting box toppers on 5,000 pizzas over the course of the past month, as well as multiple local businesses for hanging flyers and posters in their windows out of the kindness of their hearts.

In case you missed it, we were also able to get James’ story on NBC to promote the drive (thank you Pat Danly for making the connection!) and to Lauren Petty @ NBC for all her work on the segment. You can view the clips here:

http://www.curiousjames.org/nbc-clips.html#/

These efforts have absolutely helped us close the gap on enrollments... although we still have a good amount space available and need to fill that up so if you haven’t signed up please do so today at:

http://www.curiousjames.org/blood-drive.html

I’ll be at the drive all day Saturday 12/7, so if you’re coming then.. see you there! Rita and James will not be at the drive on Saturday due to a once in a lifetime opportunity James was selected for via a charity called Cal’s Angels. I’ve mentioned Cal’s in the past.. it’s a great NFP organization that helped us and many other families on our floor at Luries. James will be going on a “fantasy flight” which is essentially a real flight out of O’Hare which takes off and cruises for a bit before landing back at O’Hare which is decorated and setup as The North Pole.

Sunday 12/8 I’ll primarily be at James’ Party at D’Agostinos but plan to stop by the drive, hopefully with James and Rita as well, for a bit. That will be TBD.

For those attending James’ party on Sunday 12/8 I wanted to get a quick note out that no presents or gifts are necessary. I wasn’t sure if we made this clear in the past so wanted to re-confirm with everyone on this update so we’re all on the same page :-). This event is to celebrate James, and all of you that have supported us along the way... James IS the gift! The best (and only!) gift you can give is a blood donation if you’re willing and able.

James has been doing great... the amount of energy he has is truly incredible. He LOVES to run and it’s reassuring that we constantly see him doing this for hours on end without any breathing issues knowing that his lungs aren’t perfect largely due to all his time on the breathing machine. We went up to Lake Geneva, WI for a night this past weekend with friends for a Christmas boat ride, breakfast with Santa and some indoor swimming. As you can imagine James was in heaven.. it’ll probably take him 2-3 days to recover from all the non-stop playing.

This past Friday Rita and I were able to connect with James’ donor, and his amazing wife, for about a half hour. We are so excited to meet them this coming weekend and can’t effectively put into words how grateful we are for what they have done to help James and our family. They seem like great people, which is no surprise given what James’ donor selflessly did to help us save him.

I’ll likely send another update prior to the drive and party, but wanted to say thank you to the many, many friends and family involved in promoting the drive and helping us make an impact in the community for those truly in need. We cannot wait to celebrate with everyone this weekend!