Blog

I wanted to do a short blog about our BBQ in Regina.  The ride to Regina was tremendously hard but it was all worth in when we arrived there.  We arrived at Lyle and Linda Stewart's home at about 2:30 I think?  I had no idea what to expect from the BBQ but I had heard there would be a few people there so that was good.  The BBQ ended up being a great success and one of my favourite memories from the ride so far.  It was really encouraging to have the minister of health from the Saskatchewan Government attend the BBQ and hear about the ride for PKU.  Thanks to him for coming.  We also had three families affected by PKU attend.  The Stewart's granddaughter has PKU and she is from Ottawa.  Her parents Allison and Sean are putting on an event in Ottawa as well when the ride comes through there.  It was great to meet Allison, Sean and Liberty before the Ottawa event.  Trevor Geiger and his wife Jeri Bell also brought their son Eli who has PKU and is only about a month younger than Avery.  Trevor and Jeri drove 3 hours to be at the BBQ and Jeri told me after that it meant a lot to them to be able attend the event and meet other people who have family with PKU etc.  I believe they were able to exchange contact information with Amy, Allison and Sean which is great and what this ride is all about, connecting those affected by PKU and hopefully helping create a support network.  I also had met Trevor's parents in Salmon Arm so it was great to meet Trevor and Jeri as well.  Thanks guys for making the trip to Regina.  Amy and her family also attended the BBQ and Amy is 18 and has PKU.  It was great to hear her dad talk about their experience with PKU.  One of the things he talked about was a camp that Amy attends in Texas.  It sounds like a great opportunity for Amy to meet other kids with PKU and network with them.  Amy will be attending University in the fall and again it was great to meet someone in a different stage of life than Avery, it was very encouraging.  During the BBQ donations were being collected and we also sold some t shirts and I was stunned to learn that at the end of the night over 2600.00 was collected for the ride.  I'm so thankful for the generosity of those who attended the event.  Thanks for all your support.  The 2600 raised in Regina was significant for another reason as well as this money officially put us over the 25,000.00 mark eclipsing my goal for the entire ride before we had even made our way through Saskatchewan. I'm excited to see how much we can beat that goal by.  I was also touched by some words Allison shared at the BBQ.  I'll paraphrase but she mentioned that it takes a village to raise a child and when you have a child with PKU sometimes it feels like there is no village and the ride is helping to create that.  That really sums up well what the ride for PKU is trying to do, create awareness and support for those with PKU.  Thanks to the Stewarts for hosting us and putting on a great event.