As some of you may already know, we have had quite an adventure maneuvering parenthood after it was brought to our attention that our daughter has special needs. I am running RunDisney Half Marathon to honor our 11 year old daughter, Belle. We always had a feeling she was special. She is a genius, really. She loves disney, she loves to write poems & short stories. She is just like other kids, except extra special. When she started school, the feedback we received was “maybe she is just shy” “maybe she will grow out of it”. She sat quietly, or hid under her desk. COVID school lock down made everything worse for her, socially.

2 years ago, she was evaluated, 2 different times, by 2 different doctors. She was diagnosed with severe social anxiety and selective mutism. She was also tested for ASD, the results came back as inconclusive, but highly likely in the Autism spectrum. Due to her being a mute, they had a difficult time accurately testing her for Autism. We have been blessed with having the same teacher for 3rd & 4th grade, who catered to her needs. She suffered from bullying, she was accused of terrible things. She hated going to school, she shut down from everything, and did not have many friends. We tried swimming, gymnastics too but being around strangers made her anxiety worse. She was put on medications, which did not help.

As a parent, there is nothing worse than feeling like you can’t help your child. I blamed myself for not being enough as a mother, and feeling like I failed her. On May of 2024, she agreed with running a 5K race with me. It is one of the few things she does, along with biking & skateboarding, where she doesn’t need to talk or answer questions from strangers. It calms her. My daughter is the real reason why I started running. Running has helped both of us. January of next year, I will be turning 37. I have decided to celebrate my birthday by running Run Disney Half Marathon and raise funds for Autism Research. Belle loves disney, and she will be there waiting for me at the finish line.

Please share and/or donate to my fundraising.
Our family will be MATCHING your donation up to 500$ towards the fundraising to get to 900$ goal. From the bottom of my heart, you have my gratitude. 🫶🏻