Hi Karate Families, I want to pass this along to all of you and ask that you take a moment and read through the letter below.
Gavin Wiegel is a great little guy and has recently been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. Gavin has been a student at MPK and if there is any thing we can do to support him we will do it.
Gavin’s family mentions an event June 8 at Warner Park, the “Take Steps for Crohn’s & Colitis Walk”. You can sign up to participate in the walk or support the cause with a donation by using the green buttons at: Gavin’s Gutsy Group.
Thank you.
— Mr. Armstrong
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Subject: Crohn’s Walk for Gavin
Today, Kevin, myself and the kids are sending this note to ask for your help. Recently, our 7 year old son Gavin has been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. To say we were shocked by this is an understatement. We had no idea children could even develop this disease and we had no idea how difficult this disease can be without a lot of options. Currently, there is no known cause for Crohn’s and no cure for Crohn’s. It is very difficult to know you can’t fix this for your child. So we have decided to do the next best thing and that is work to not only raise awareness but also to raise funds for more research and ultimately a cure. Our goal is for Gavin to see a cure in his lifetime … hopefully sooner than later.
One of the ways we have found we can work on this goal for Gavin is to participate in the Take Steps for Crohn’s & Colitis Walk which will be held on June 8th at Warner Park in Madison. This walk is held in cities across the nation and is the nation’s largest event dedicated to finding cures for digestive diseases. As part of the walk, we will be working on fundraising for our team which we have decided to call “Gavin’s Gutsy Group.” We are asking for your help to reach our fundraising goal. In addition, if you are interested, we are inviting everyone to participate in the walk with us. We would love to see you there and remember no amount is too small to donate. Every little bit helps.
Crohn’s disease effects over 1.4 million Americans and for whatever reason is on the rise in the U.S. In the past, there has not been a lot of research funding available because the disease was not as prominent. By creating awareness and raising funds, we will help to further research and hopefully find the key to this disease. That is why the fundraising is so important. So please consider helping us and remember your donation is tax deductible. You can sign up for the walk and/or donate at the following link:
https://online.ccfa.org/goto/GavinsGutsyGroup13. The website is a little confusing, so our recommendation would be if you would like to donate, click on the green button on the right that says “Support Gavin’s Gutsy Group”. If you would like to sign up to walk with us and be part of the team, click the “Join Team” button also on the right — but ignore the fundraising/donation part. That is the easiest way to do it. Please let us know if any questions on this and we will help!!!
If you don’t want to sign up or donate on line, just let us know and we can get you signed up for the walk and you can mail donations directly to us.
In addition, many companies offer a matching gift program. Please check with your company to see if they will match your donation. We found out that Kevin’s work will match 3 to 1 for his donations so it can really increase the amount of a donation so it is worth checking in to. Your company would have a form that needs to be filled out, so please do so and just mail to us and we will take care of getting it to the right place.
At this point, Gavin doesn’t quite know what to make of all of this. He doesn’t really like the attention from it and in his own words “he does not want anyone to feel sorry for him.” He just cares if he feels good enough to play ball. We worried about his privacy if we were to make everyone aware of this however we have decided we need to be open and create awareness in order to give him the best chance of a cure. So please keep him in your prayers as we navigate this disease and please pray for a cure so he can play football for the Packers when he grows up (this is the only thing he is interested in doing when he grows up!!!).
Lastly, if you know of anyone else who may be affected by this disease or may be interested in participating or donating, please pass this info along to them. I know there are a lot of other “Redbirds” out there who might be willing to help. We are not Facebookers, but we may have to start in order to pass the word.
Thank you so much for considering this and we will keep you posted on our progress.
MacKenzie gave me a quote the other night that she found that she thought would help how we were feeling. It simply said “out of difficulties come miracles.” So, we will keep praying and working for a cure for our miracle!!!
Take care and God bless.
— Kevin, Kathy, Morgan, MacKenzie and Gavin Wiegel