Good morning everyone,

As we think about what the future holds for this page, we are going to create a separate website for people to track and participate in future events in Paxton's honor. Once we have that up, we will include the link on this page and transition updates over there long term. Two things are already in progress.

First is all of the books! Based on the hundreds, if not a thousand+ books already at our house, I'd say most people seeing this already know about this initiative. Again, THANK YOU! If you'd still like to participate, we've added more books to our Amazon wish list for ideas. We have also enjoyed seeing you send yours and your kids' favorites. https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3IF5P67Q2MEF8?ref_=wl_share&fbclid=IwY2xjawE4HbdleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHdG-WIwTh34q3fo0eXMId4FCHAdrjI1XnWQOjaxQjQKO1UTRLXXEn1fwBQ_aem_jQo2b2DuM18kF6u9fmdazw

We have also been asked about used books. If they are in good condition, the hospital can take them. If you have used books you'd like to donate, send them over! If they are more worn, we'll take them to the Rainbow House (Omaha's equivalent of the Ronald McDonald House), who is also always in need of books available for patients and their siblings during long term stays.

Another event we are looking to do in the spring is the Nebraska Half Marathon! For any runners/walkers who would like to participate with us, we will get a group once registration opens and have custom shirts created. I'll be doing the half marathon and Elise and Camden will do the 5k. The date hasn't been announced yet. It should be in late April. 

The cool thing about this event is the half marathon route starts in Omaha, runs a few miles in Iowa, where Paxton lived his whole life, and finishes near a park he played at the day before his surgery in June.

Finally, some have asked about places you can donate money to further the cause of support and cures for congenital heart defects. About 1 in every 100 children is born with some sort of CHD (1 in 4,000 are born with Paxton's condition of HLHS). Some organizations who helped us and are working towards advancements in the CHD world are:

Help-A-Heart (https://help-a-heart.org/): helps Iowa families with CHD children with emotional and financial support.

Tori's Angels (https://www.torisangels.org/): helps Iowa families with children of life-threatening conditions with financial support, including medical costs not covered by insurance.

HeartWorks (https://heartworksinc.org/): this is an organization working on growing hearts using a person's own cells. If successful, it could change the long term outcomes of severe CHD conditions such as HLHS. Currently, most CHD surgeries address the symptoms, but cannot actually "fix" the heart. HeartWorks is trying to change that and create a true cure.