Two Milestones, One Week

    Never in a million years would I think I'd be able to say that in three days I'd be running my fourth half marathon, and yet here I am three days from running my fourth Philadelphia Half Marathon.  It's truly amazing, and while I am a horrible trainer and only run four months out of the year, it is still a major life moment for me.  Doing it year after year has become fun, and while I don't get too nervous, I do get a nervous excited feeling on race morning.  There isn't much like that adrenaline that fills your entire body and somehow makes your legs start moving as the crowd shuffles forward lurching ever so slowly toward the starting line.  I have already decided that next year, to mark my fifth time running the race, I am going to not focus as much on my time and bring my camera along to document the race.  These years of running and fundraising are some that I will never forget.  

    The second, and more important milestone comes one week from today.  Next Thursday, November 22nd, is Trey's 17th birthday.  Yup, 17!  This is another milestone that we weren't sure would ever come.  Well, to rephrase that, we as a family knew (or at least had faith) it would come, there were a lot of people around us that tried to prepare us for the worst.  Trey was never expected to make it past a year, let alone all the way to seventeen.  He was also never supposed to be able to go to school, let alone integrated public school.  He was never supposed to be able to learn much of anything, let alone know how to make choices, which he can do...we just have to adapt to his style of doing things.  The list is endless of things we weren't supposed to be able to do with him, but thankfully my parents listened to their hearts and not to the doctors on this one and we have never left Trey out of any family function...our family is not whole without him sitting at the table.  

    His strength and will to fight is what fuels us every single day in finding a way to help fund the research at CHOP.  He has enough courage in his little toe than I could ever hope to have.  I scoff at those doctors that expected the worst, as they didn't know what this little guy was made of.  They didn't know where his family came from, that he comes from a long line of fighters and strong Italians, French, English...people who all had to fight for what they believed in.  They didn't know the family that Trey had surrounding him, not only my parents, my older brother and myself, but that we have a vast web of grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles that are never ready to take "no" for an answer.  We are a stubborn folk, and in this instance it did us well, knowing that there was always more that could be done.  While I try to steer clear of getting too ahead of myself, knowing that Trey still has a very long road ahead of him, I still think those doctors that weren't willing to give him a second chance should have his picture on their walls to prove to themselves and their patients that anything is possible.  

    So next week while we are eating turkey with our entire family, we will also be getting ready to cut into some birthday cake and wish the little guy a very happy 17th birthday...and many more to come.

www.tristanmullenfund.org