Thomas and Senator Sherrod Brown...right after Thomas gave him one of his All-Star cards!
Thomas waiting for our next meeting (I think with Bob Gibbs)
Most of the children's hospital patients and some siblings at the Monday night festivities.
I haven't blogged in a few weeks. I have to start off by saying that FAD was a success! We met with our legislatures and had an excellent two days. Thomas loved flying...even though our flight in was a little bumpy ~ Thomas loved it! There was ALOT of walking...thank goodness that we had our stroller ~ not sure if Thomas could have taken all of it. We were advocating for the importance of CHGME (children's hospital graduate medical education program) NOT to cut funding and medicaid...how important it is to both patients and children's hospitals.
We arrived a few minutes late for the family briefing ... but we were still able to enjoy the presentations and Thomas got to meet Miranda Cosgrove (I-Carly). We had a few hours to relax and enjoy DC...my Aunt and Uncle drove in from VA to visit with us ~ it was great! That evening NACH (National Association of Children's Hospitals) put on a great family celebration that was very kid friendly. Dancing, eating, each child got to pick out a very nice toy, caricatures, ice cream and face painting. We got back to the room, washed up and went right to bed.
Tuesday morning we were up early and after breakfast there was a full day of capital hill meetings! From 930 am til 3pm we were meeting and talking with our Ohio legislatures. It was intense but so rewarding and the experience itself was priceless. I don't think Thomas realized how important his story was (is). I'm keeping a journal for him so he can enjoy it when he gets older...along with all of the malings he has received from some of the politicians we met with.
I forgot to mention the local media attention .... the Sunday before we left we had 3 different local news stations interested in our story. They came to the house and interviewed both Thomas and myself and took alot of video of us playing.
Never did I think, 5yrs ago, that we would have had all of these unbelievable opportunities!
Now...we are 10 days away from the first day of school! Its almost dinner time so I'll have to blog about that later!
We arrived a few minutes late for the family briefing ... but we were still able to enjoy the presentations and Thomas got to meet Miranda Cosgrove (I-Carly). We had a few hours to relax and enjoy DC...my Aunt and Uncle drove in from VA to visit with us ~ it was great! That evening NACH (National Association of Children's Hospitals) put on a great family celebration that was very kid friendly. Dancing, eating, each child got to pick out a very nice toy, caricatures, ice cream and face painting. We got back to the room, washed up and went right to bed.
Tuesday morning we were up early and after breakfast there was a full day of capital hill meetings! From 930 am til 3pm we were meeting and talking with our Ohio legislatures. It was intense but so rewarding and the experience itself was priceless. I don't think Thomas realized how important his story was (is). I'm keeping a journal for him so he can enjoy it when he gets older...along with all of the malings he has received from some of the politicians we met with.
I forgot to mention the local media attention .... the Sunday before we left we had 3 different local news stations interested in our story. They came to the house and interviewed both Thomas and myself and took alot of video of us playing.
Never did I think, 5yrs ago, that we would have had all of these unbelievable opportunities!
Now...we are 10 days away from the first day of school! Its almost dinner time so I'll have to blog about that later!
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