Happy Birthday Victoria

Today would have been Victoria's 11th birthday. When she was 3 we had cupcakes at the lake. I don't remember right now what we did when she was 4, but when she turned 5 we had a party at Mckey Park. That was her favorite park. The kids ran around & played on the playground equipment. Victoria loved to do the monkey bars and swing. Victoria made her own cake for her friends to eat that day. When she turned 6 she was so excited to have a party at the bowling alley. She made her own cake then too. (I helped some.) When she was 7 she was back in the hospital for 28 days straight after having been home only 5 days after a 35 day stay. She had bacterial meningitis. The hospital staff got her a cake with a Barbie in the middle. The Barbie's dress was the cake. They made her a huge poster that everyone signed & all of the nurses came & sang Happy Birthday. All she wanted was to be home with her family. That wasn't too much to ask for. When she was 8 she had a Strawberry Shortcake cake from Sams. She wanted to have a party with her friends, but her counts were too low to be around a group of people. Her physical therapy family had a party for her when she went to therapy & we had our own celebration at home. She was in Heaven on her 9th birthday.

Victoria was the one that really loved special occassions and holidays. She always got so excited. She enjoyed everything and was always so full of life, even on an ordinary Monday. She would always find something wonderful about each day. She always saw the good in things, even when she was battling cancer in her little brain & spine. Her sweet smile, sparkling blue eyes, and gentle hugs could make any day better.

On this day, please remember to stop being so busy and spend time with your kids. You may not get a tomorrow. Live life every day. Enjoy the little things. Listen to what your kids have to say after school. Stop and play a video game with them or go outside & play whatever they want to play. Sit & color or watch a program on TV. Let them help cook supper. Even a 3 year old can pour something into a pot. Hopefully you get the point.

Thank you for remembering Victoria.

Results from Victory for Victoria Event

Finally!...thanks for being patient.

We raised a total of $7,387 to be sent to St. Jude's Brain Tumor Program. We collected over 1300 toys to be sent to pediatric cancer patients & their siblings. The toys will be sent to different floors of Children's Health Care of Atlanta (Victoria's hospital), The AFLAC Cancer Center (Victoria's clinic), Wolfson's Children's Hospital in Jacksonville, FL, and The Ronald McDonald Houses in Macon, GA & Gainesville, FL. The used movies we collected will be sent to the pediatric floor of South Georgia Medical Center. (At Egleston they have a pretty good selection of movies but at SGMC they had very few...only 2 when we were there.) We also have a list of children to send things to at home. If you know of a pediatric cancer patient that you would like to send a gift to, please email me their information.

Below is a list of winners for the runs:

1 Mile Fun Run Winners:
Overall Winner- Ronnie Newsome....barefooted!
1st Overall Female:Hannah Allison
2nd Overall Female: Kelsey Rasmussen
1st Overall Male- Ronnie Newsome
2nd Overall Male- Holden Holley
1st place 10 & under Female- Kaylah Gupton
2nd place 10 & under Female- Chloe Harris
1st place 10 & under Male- Blake Goodwin
2nd place 10 & under Male- Hank Evans

There was some confusion with the female finishes. When the prizes were given, Madelyn Clyatt was called for 2nd place. She actually finished 4th. Chole Harris was 2nd and Micaela Wood was 3rd. We think maybe the girls didn't put their name/score cards in the basket. A trophy has been made for Chloe.

5k Winners:
1st Overall Female: Jennifer Rasmussen
1st Overall Male: Masked Avenger
1st Masters Female: Kim Megow
1st Masters Male: Jamie Welborn

12 & under: Female/Male
1st: Maggie Scruggs/Holden Holley
2nd: Taylor Grantham/Gary Cannon
13-18:
1st: Caroline Scruggs/Bailey Goodwin
2nd: Megan Wetherington/Casey Gilliams
19-29:
1st: Jennifer Cole/Ryan Bass
2nd: Erin Bell Tyler/McAllister
30-39:
1st: Jody Durham/Toby Kerner
2nd: Kim James/Doug Harriman
40-49:
1st: Cathy Helms/Tommy Goodwin
2nd: Robin McLendon/Rick Stevens
50-59:
1st: Pam Williams/Lars Leader
2nd: Rhonda Hammon/Rob Wise
60-69:
1st: Carol Brookhauser/Buddy Coleman
2nd: Nancy Wooten/Chuch Glassmire


10K Winners:
1st Overall Female: April Scruggs
1st Overall Male: John Seppala
1st Masters Female: Carrie Weyant
1st Masters Male: Mark Steele

19-29: Female/Male
1st: Diana McAlroy/Masked Avenger
2nd: Tandy Alderman/David McAlroy
30-39:
1st: Karen Cauthen/Jay Riven
2nd: Zane Eppes/Bobby Yarborough
40-49:
1st: Sherri Welch/Ferrell Scruggs
2nd: Tracy Cannon/Ted Welch
50-50:
1st Female: Linda Wood
70+:
1st Male: Leonard Cato


Special thanks to the staff at Valwood School, all of our volunteers, and our sponsors:

The Shoppes at Baytree, Langdale Ford, Miller Hardware, Kimberly W. Megow, M.D., Guardian Bank, The Park Avenue Bank, Peavy Properties, The Floor Shop Inc., Colson, Bass & Tomberlin, Southern OB-GYN, Accelerated Builders, The Valdosta Daily Times, Black Crow Media, The Dee Rivers Group, Professional Printing, Astro Exterminating, Air Jump Depot, Steele's Jewelry, The Pool Store, The Ravine Grille & Dinnerhouse, Kinderlou Forest Golf Club, The Wooden Nickel, Crystal River Seafood, Red Lobster, Steak 'n Shake, Kent's Salon, Chris Vu, Sublime, Locos, Wild Adventures, Carlton Outdoors, Brewsters Ice Cream, The Pegg Family, The Jackson Family & Granddaddy.

Thank you all so much for your support!

Victory for Victoria Event Update

Saturday's event was a great success. There were over 200 runners. Together we collected over 1200 toys!...and that's not all...there were several boxes and bags not yet counted. We are still counting donations and hope to have things finalized by the end of the week.

Ronnie won the 1 Mile Fun Run...barefooted! He ran his little heart out for his sister. I could hear her saying, "look at him go Mom!" like she used to at their ball games.

I hope to have a complete list of all of the winners to post by the end of the week. I will do a complete update soon.

Thank you to all who helped to make our event such a special day.