I am embarking on a new journey here in Colorado and have decided to take on the mountians!   On July 20th and 21st I will be riding my bike in the Courage Classic benefiting Children's Hospital Colorado and the Heart Institute.  I will riding with the Cardiac Climbers team and children with heart disease.  I am also dedicating my ride to Bryson, one of our very special heart warriors, whos incredible story is below.

As many of you know, this is not my first fundraising ride, and will likely not be my last!  I am so thankful for my family and friends for supporting me in my crazy adventures and for supporting such an amazing cause. This ride, Children’s Hospital Colorado Courage Classic Bicycle Tour, is the single largest gathering of people coming together to raise money for Children’s Colorado, and I am so excited to be part of this amazing team of people. 

Here is Bryson's Story:

Our little Bryson came into this world on new years eve, 2018. As any parent is aware, having your child born is one of the most wonderful and important days you will ever have in your life. For us, Bryson being born was a diferent kind of memorable event in my wife Lindsay and I’s life.  It was bittersweet, because as happy as we were, our beautiful and perfect little boy was diagnosed with a not so perfect heart. Bryson was diagnosed with tetralogy of Fallot in September of 2018 in vitro.  After he was born, he went to have his echo done to see if he was going to need surgery right away to fix his heart.  Those were some of the longest minutes of my entire life. Thankfully his condition was mild enough that he did not need the procedure right away.  Oh, what a relief that was. 

We got to take our boy home.  We got to snuggle him and love him, but not like we really wanted to.  We knew that in a few months, he was going to have to go back to children’s hospital to have his surgery.  There were many unknowns with him during these few months.  We had to watch for “ tet spells”, we had to watch for unusual breathing, we had to watch for any strange behavior that could indicate that his condition was progressing.  If it weren’t for Karrie Villavincencio’s constant monitoring of us and Bryson, the situation would have been much more stressful than it was.  I have never seen a doctor so dedicated to her patients before.  It was truly heartwarming.

The day had finally came. Bryson was going to have his surgery. So many mixed emotions went through our heads “Thank goodness he’s finally getting this fixed.” “Oh my god, what happens if the surgery doesn’t go as planned.” I think the biggest thought running through our head was, “just please, let him be okay.” He was. He did so well.

Bryson is alive and well today because of the dedicated and unconditional support and professionalism of the cardiology and CICU sta of children’s hospital. We are ever so grateful for all of you one hundred times over. We would have never gotten through this without everyones dedication to our son. Because of all of you, we get to enjoy our happy, sweet boy every day. He is all smiles all the time. He is so curious, so full of life already. What a bright future he has in front of him.

The Courage Classic is not only a personal challenge, but also an opportunity to support healthier futures for Bryson and the many other children with congenital heart diesease.  I hope to see the generosity that I know you all have for this very special cause.

Thank you and much love,

Jordan