A donation that made a world of difference.

[DisneyDreams4P&B]

My youngest son is part of our local baseball league. This year my oldest who has HFA, joined their Adaptive league. We started out with 7 and in just 3 weeks we grew to over 30, enough to make 2 teams.

Last weekend, the players were given uniforms, complete with the upgraded pants (with a belt), jersey with their name on it, socks. Just like their typical counterparts. Each player was also given a new embroidered bat bag, with a new glove, new helmet (in the color of their team) and a new bat!! It was all donated by one person, the donor doesn't have a special needs child just wanted to give them the same things that the "typical" kids have. None of the parents could believe it. The league is hoping to build a "Field of Dreams", that is completely for players with special needs.

Well yesterday the players showed up in uniform, with their equipment. I wish everyone could have seen how proud these kids were. They weren't special needs kids, they weren't different, on that day they were baseball players just like everyone else. Some of the parents said that they never thought they would see the day where their child would be dressed in a uniform and playing ball. I have to say that when I saw my son dressed in his uniform, it brought tears to my eyes.

I hope to have pictures soon to post. BTW, my son asked his Daddy to pitch to him and he hit the ball on the second pitch. It was amazing!

 

[MousekeMommy]

Thank you for such an up-lifting post!
My son has a heart condition, and because of his pacemaker being placed in his abdomen, we were initially told "no sports where he could possibley take a hit". Yep, that meant T-ball, baseball, and a lot of things (he could only do swim, tennis, and track, but only if his endurance could keep up . . .).
Anyway, last year we were told that due to new statistics, he could do "incidental contact sports" where hits could happen, but were not anticipated (he can do baseball and basketball because they are not supposed to hit, but not football, wrestling, or soccer because it is expected that they will take hits to the abdomen/chest). He does have to wear a custom chest protector ($189 each year of growth But he does get to play!!!
Anyway, I know the elation of seeing your child be "normal" for the 1st time!!! I am so happy for you and your son. That speaks so highly for your community!!!

 

[scottsod]

great for you guy we have been involved with a special needs recreation league here in nj for a few years now and i know how hard it is to raise $ for the kids we just had a walk a thon this weekend and raised about 10,000!!!

we are trying to get our own building and field so we dont always have to borrow from the town.

we went from t ball to tball soccer basketball bowling tennis cheer dance and social skills!

if you need any help contact us at http://www.puttingthepiecestogether.org

 

[stace1214]

Okay, so I may be an overly emotional pregnant lady, but that just brought tears to my eyes. What a wonderful thing for someone to do!

 

[KirstenB]

I'm not even pregnant, and I'm teary-eyed too!

 

[LavenderPeach]

That is awesome! What a great gift someone gave those kids. Thanks for sharing your story!

 

[DisneyDreams4P&B]

Can someone tell me how to upload pictures, I would love to share some!

 

[LuvsTinker]

How Awesome!

I wish they would start some special leagues here in the New Orleans area.

 

[LavenderPeach]

Can someone tell me how to upload pictures, I would love to share some!

If you upload your pictures to photobucket you can copy and paste the code from there into your message and the picture will show up.

 

[BeckyScott]

A couple of years ago, okay more like 4 DS was at the SpEd preschool. They did a graduation every spring.

When older DS was in preschool (a regular private preschool) they had little graduation gowns. I asked and was told that youngest DS's preschool didn't have those. I don't know if it was public vs private, what happened, well they just never had any. After asking around, every other preschool in town had them.

Well, we can't have that, can we?

It was my Christmas project. I made about 2 dozen. I didn't realize at the time, but with a morning class and afternoon class at 2 different sites, 2 dozen wasn't nearly enough, but seriously all I could manage. (that was some tedious sewing) But a few of the teachers took over from there, borrowed my pattern, and made a couple dozen more.

They asked me why I had thought to do that, and really, my only answer was because the "regular" kids all got them and our preschool shouldn't be any different. If you've been there done that, sending your special needs kid to school is a huge huge deal, and graduating from that... well we all know graduation is for the parents I mean, you know a bunch of 4-year-olds didn't give a hoot over graduation gowns. But it does matter, and I left a little piece of us behind.

I'm not wanting to brag. I think any of us would have done the same thing in the situation. Sometimes it can be just a tiny thing, but for just a few minutes you get to be like everyone else.

 

[DisDreaminMom]

, but in a good way.

 

[MarieS]

What a wonderful story! Both of my DS play in a local Challengers division and it has been a wonderful experience.