Several
years ago I met a woman with whose son I had a connection. Our connection
superseded mine with her son’s, so our friendship grew. As time went on, her daughter
birthed a boy with special needs. His name is Julian.
Julian
"Bug" Cruz was born at 28 weeks - 3 months premature. Doctors gave
him little chance of survival following a massive brain bleed the night he was
born. When he did survive, they said he would be a vegetable. When he surpassed
being a vegetable, they still said he would never sit up, speak, hear, crawl,
stand, or run.
On May 19, 2012 (his 10th birthday) Julian won both bronze and gold medals in the Special Olympics Florida State Games as a cyclist. Although he has shunted hydrocephalus, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and is severely hearing-impaired, Julian faced every obstacle with courage and a winner's attitude.
Because speech is his primary mode of communication, he is far behind his profoundly-deaf, ASL-fluent peers; as a result he could not attend the
So what’s
the catch?
Tuition
for Blossom School is $7,000 per school year. Plus, Julian
and his mother have to move to Clearwater
during the school year, which is an additional and crippling expense.
Enter “Go
Fund Me”!
Julian’s
father, Eddie Cruz, created a page where friends and strangers alike can make
donations to help offset the cost of Julian’s education: http://www.gofundme.com/gobug. I
double-dog dare every single one of you to go to this page, click on “More
Updates” to scroll through Eddie’s poignant posts, and look at photos of Julian
without shedding a tear or two. This kid has more spunk than anyone I know.
In 2012 Desert
Breeze published the first in my 5-book-series historical deaf hero (Brander Hansen, “A
Discreet Gentleman of Discovery”) and I donated all of my royalties for the month the book was released.
Furthermore
- if you can figure out who Julian’s uncle is (my friend’s son), I’ll donate
$10 for every right answer emailed to me at Kris@KrisTualla.com.
Our
subject this month was “shout-out to charity” and neither Eddie, nor his
mother-in-law, had any idea that I wrote this post. But they will.
It seems
we all are inundated daily with outstretched palms asking for donations – heck,
I can’t stop at any major intersection without having to face yet another
person with a cardboard sign asking for cash. So an attitude of skepticism is
warranted, no question about it.
But this
little guy is real. His parents love him and want the best for him. They have
shaped their lives around helping Julian be all that he can be. If you feel so
moved, donate. Or if not, simply share Eddie’s link. You never know.
Thanks
for reading this post to the end.
5 comments:
Thanks, Kris, for sharing a touching tribute to a little boy and his family and also highlighting a fantastic resource in the Montessori program. I hope every state has a special program like it to help courageous children and their families. Now to go back and click on the gofundme link!
Thanks, Judith!
Such a heartbreaking-wrenching story but what a fantastic little guy! His strength and courage should be honored and an inspiration to us all. Thank God, there is a special program in Florida to help him and thank everyone who has read this, donated what they can to keep this child in school.
Thanks for highlighting Julian's struggle. So glad there is a school for him. Going to donate right now.
Now and again, you find a cause that's personal, and worth it.
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