Faith based activities and honored to be recognized.

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I had three big things happen recently that where exciting experiences and humbling as well.  I recieved my First Communion and was Confirmed, honored to receive a scholarship at JSerra, and spoke at a Make A Wish Foundation fundraiser.  Yeah… it’s been busy….

Receiving the Sacraments

Coach Dahn & Hayden

First, I received my First Holy Communion and Confirmation at St. John the Baptist Church in Costa Mesa.  I’ve spent this year going to RCIA classes during lunch in preparation for these two big events.  I’d like to thank JSerra Ministries, Mr. Ekert, and Coach Dahn for being my sponsor and supporting me through the whole process.

What an honor…

What an honor

On May 9, I received the the Gillian Marie Sabet Memorial Scholarship award. The Gillian Marie Sabet Scholarship Award was founded in June of 2005 to honor the life and legacy left by JSerra student Jill Sabet, honorary member of the class of 2006. Through the generosity of many people who were touched by Jill’s life and the impact she had on the JSerra community, a perpetual scholarship has been funded and will be awarded annually to a deserving JSerra student who has demonstrated commitment to scholarship, leadership, and involvement in school activities.

Although it has been a tough year and a half for me, I am honored to be able to continue to educate everyone about childhood cancer on behalf of warriors such as Gillian, and what it takes to survive, flourish after treatment, and persevere with a positive attitude and hard work.

Scary but fun to support a great cause.

On Saturday, May 12th,  I had my first speaking engagement.  I was asked to speak about my journey to a group of parents and children at the Stillwater Grill in Dana Point who were raising funds for the Make A Wish Foundation.  Stink, Inc. a local San Clemente band that consists of 8-13 year old kids, played their music and held an auction at the Stillwater Grill. What’s really cool, is they’ve raised over $5000 for Make A Wish.

It’s great to get out there and speak about my experiences and share with parents and kids how important organizations such as Make A Wish are in helping kids like me have hope and feel that dreams are attainable even under the toughest circumstances.

I will once again shred the knar!

Make A Wish had granted me a wish for next summer – a trip to Whistler Bike Park in British Columbia.  Why are these wishes so important?  By granting my wish, I now have a goal to work even harder on my balance and coordination so I can ride one of the best bike parks in the world.  It give me hope – hope to get back to normal or at least feel like I can do normal things, and lastly, it also helps to make up – a little bit – for the time I lost as a normal kid last year as I was on my journey fighting my tumor.

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