Why Do I Run?

This is Cooper. When Cooper was 16 months old he pulled a vegetable steamer off of the counter and suffered third degree burns on his left arm and foot. He was rushed to the hospital and they realized that they could not help him and that he needed specialized care. They sent him to the Burn Unit at Riley Hospital for Children. This was the best place we could have asked for. Cooper spent 18 days at Riley and had to have two skin graft surgeries. Although it was a scary time for our family it is a time that we are thankful for. We got to see angels at work here on earth. They were in the form of burn unit nurses. These nurses do and see things on a daily basis that would make a grown man cry. But they do it with a smile on their face and a comforting word in their mouth. We also saw miracle workers in the form of the plastic surgeons who took Coopers arm that looked like something from a sci-fi movie and made it a scar that is slightly noticeable but getting better every day. If a child asks Cooper what happened to his arm, he just looks at it and says “That’s just my owie.”

We are forever grateful and thankful for the nurses and doctors at Riley. When Dan Bernath asked if we would mind if he would run to raise money for the Burn Unit in honor of Cooper, it brought tears to our eyes. They are always in need of new movies and games to keep the kids distracted from the immense pain they are in. Or they may need new chairs for the parents to rock their little ones to sleep. All I know is that the money that you are able to give will go to making miracles in the lives of these children who desperately need them.