Join me in providing opportunities for children and adults with disabilities that build health, confidence and independence!

I am participating in Achieve Tahoe's annual fundraiser and I am hoping you can help. As you probably know we are a family that loves skiing and spends a lot of time skiing when there is snow on the mountains. When Dylan had his brain injury we wondered if he would be able to ski and how that would affect our weekend activities during the winter? We tried teaching him to ski and putting him in regular ski school lessons, none of it very successful. When Dylan was 4 1/2 we were introduced to Achieve Tahoe. We started putting him in lessons with Achieve Tahoe and low and behold he was able to ski. Dylan is now 11 1/2 and still loves skiing with Achieve Tahoe. In fact he much prefers to ski with Achieve Tahoe. Dylan skied his first black diamond in Utah last week, he was so proud of himself (as he should be). Black Diamonds are steep and tough, skiing a black diamond for Dylan would not have been possible without Achieve Tahoe. Achieve Tahoe has Dylan excited about skiing year after year and it is through Achieve Tahoe that Dylan has met a great buddy who he has a ton of fun skiing with and hanging out with. Achieve Tahoe is much more than an organization that has taught Dylan to ski, it really is part of our family. We are so grateful that we found Achieve Tahoe and the impact it has had on our lives. Everyone at Achieve Tahoe is amazingly supportive of Dylan, his differences and genuinely cares about him and all of the other athletes they are working with.

Join me in supporting Achieve Tahoe so they can keep providing life-changing events to athletes like Dylan.

A brief background on Dylan for those of you that don't know his story. In 2009 when Dylan was 16 months he spiked a high fever resulting in a massive, very prolonged seizure injuring his entire left hemisphere of his brain. He went through intensive OT, PT, speech therapy for a few months to regain movement in the right side, he still has all of those therapies today. In early 2010 Dylan started having partial seizures that were affecting only his right arm. Over the course of the next couple of years we tried every medication we could but the seizures didn't stop, and in fact they started happening more often. Seizures were happening hourly. In 2011 Dylan had his first brain surgery to remove the part of the brain the seizures were coming from. That surgery didn't work, he still seized. About 6 months later Dylan had his second brain surgery, again that surgery didn't work, he still seized. About 6 months later, in Oct. 2012 Dylan had a right hemispherectomy (removing the right hemisphere of his brain) to finally stop the seizures. That surgery worked, he's been seizure free since that time. The right side of Dylan's body is still much weaker than the left, it has been this way since he was 16 months, however it doesn't slow him down he runs and jumps but has very minimal use of his right arm. Today Dylan is a super active, high spirited 5th grade boy who loves basketball, baseball, tennis and golf. He loves being social and will tell you a million and one stories and he loves his family very much, especially his little brother Carter who is 9.

Achieve Tahoe is a nonprofit that builds health, confidence and independence through recreational sports for children and adults with disabilities. The organization serves over 500 people a year through one-on-one snowsports lessons, waterskiing, paddle sports and more. Achieve Tahoe's highly trained instructors and specialized, adaptive equipment allow the organization to serve just about anyone with any disability. Achieve Tahoe participants and family members often say that their experience with Achieve Tahoe goes on to affect other areas of their life such as gaining confidence to try other sports, becoming more social, and breaking down perceived barriers showing them that they can do things they perhaps never thought they could before.

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Donate now. Thank you very much!