“I am Brave”
A few years back, on a bright summer morning, I was walking a dog with my sister. Wolfgang was an enormous white German shepherd, an unruly sort--stubborn and untrained. Walking Wolf was like walking a drunk person. As we meandered around, this tangle of three, I noticed a little boy in a corner yard about 10 feet ahead of us. He was no more than 2 years old, crouched down, his back to us, rummaging under a bush. That bush sat atop a flight of 5 cracked cement stairs that led down from his yard to the sidewalk. As if it were choreographed, the moment I realized the precariousness of the situation was the exact moment the boy rocked backward and literally fell into my arms.
The timing of it all was uncanny as we never changed our pace. We simply walked up at the precise moment he fell. His mother, who had turned her back for that split second, heard him cry and rushed over to me, confused. Why was I holding her child? She grabbed him and went back into the yard without a word. I have no idea who that boy was. We just kept on walking. To this day, I wonder if I was put on this earth for the sole purpose of rescuing that child from grave injury.
My point is that we have no idea how we affect the entire world by helping one person, how our attitude affects the teenage barista, or what a single smile might mean to the person in the car next to you. We here at Renny Run believe that the smallest of gestures ripples through all of us so this week Renny Run is going off book to help our first little friend, Willow. Remember her?
(Insert live link instagram post here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CK4htp-FqUs/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link)
Willow has a friend, Emma, who is suffering from a rare fatal disease, Niemann Pick Type C (NPC). It’s like Alzheimers, Parkinson’s and ALS rolled into one, but in young children. Emma and other children like her are currently being treated with a medicine which significantly slows the progression of NPC, allowing them live and thrive. Without it, Emma and her friends will not survive.
The pharmaceutical company that manufactures their treatment is stopping ALL access to this life saving medication in October 2021, because they don’t believe that the treatment is proven to work.
It's a tough story, so we created a special shirt, “I am Brave”, for Emma and her friends, to support the movement fighting to keep this drug on the market, and for all of the little ones out there who need their spirits lifted.
Check out the Renny Run Shop(Hyperlink to: https://www.rennyrun.com/shop/) on Friday for this special shirt. We will donate a portion of the proceeds from I am Brave t-shirts purchased by the end of June to Don’t Give Up on NPC.
I have no idea what became of the boy who fell backwards into my arms that summer day. I hope that he or perhaps his mother may go on to influence others in a positive way. I know this for sure, they helped me understand to how one person can change the course of your life forever.
Betty
Help Save Our Medicine video: https://youtu.be/MN66nUeXLyg
