I will be competing in The Washington Island 36 Hour Ultra Triathlon Starting July 29th at 10:00PM and Finishing at 10:00 AM saturday July 31. This is uncharted territory for me. I have completed many triathlons in the past 4 1/2 years but nothing like this! For 36 Hours I will be swimming 1/4 mile Swim, 10 mile bike and 2 mile run loops over and over again. My goal is to complete as many loops as possible with the audacious goal of completing 26 loops. This a goal that scares me... That would equal 6.5 Miles of Swimming, 260 Miles of Biking and 52 Miles (2 Marathons)of Running! That is more than 2 complete ironman distance races. There are going to be some dark times for me along the way and I'm not talking about the night even though I will be racing throughout two consecutive nights. It will be nothing compared to what some of these children and families go through. Please help me raise money to provide at least two life changing surgeries for these children and their families. That is only $240.00 each for a total of $480.00. Please donate any amount to help them! Donate the price of one cup of Starbucks and you can come to my house for a better free coffee. :) In the meantime you will be supporting me by giving me a reason to keep on fighting through 36 hours of literally blood, sweat and tears.

***EDIT*** I have updated my goal! Just like in racing y9u sometimes need to adjust your goals. With such generous donatios we pretty much made the original goal of $480 in less than 24 hours!!!  Thank you so much! Let's try and double the original goal to $960 and help 4 kids and their families.

***EDIT EDIT*** Thanks to so many generous people we have reached the goal again. Right now we have raised enough for 4 surgeries. With Stryker matching funds, thats enough for 8 life changing surgeries. Maybe we can make 2 more. so hopefully we can make it to $1440.00. Amazing!

Thanks again!

 There may be more than seven million people living with unrepaired cleft lip and cleft palate worldwide, a number that grows daily. How can you help?

·         As little as $240 can deliver a life-changing surgery to a person with a cleft condition.

·         With just $100, you can equip 1 pre-surgery pediatric station with therapeutic toys and materials to ease a child’s fears before going into surgery.

·         For just $70, you can help make surgery possible with the gift of transportation for one family.

·         With a gift of $30, you can help provide antibiotics to 10 children, ensuring they can safely receive surgery. 

With a gift of any amount, you can be a part of changing that narrative and changing someone’s life.

Through the Stryker Smiles campaign, you can help fund critically needed surgical and supportive nonsurgical care for children with cleft conditions in low-and middle-income countries. In doing so, you will be joining a growing movement of people who believe everyone deserves the right to health and dignity, and that compassion always prevails.

*Please Note: For international online transactions, banks may decline a transaction and flag it as fraudulent for security purposes if they deem it to be suspicious and outside of your normal banking habits. To avoid this, please notify your bank before placing a donation or contact us if you are still having issues via email at strykersupport@operationsmile.org.