It's that time of year once again. It's time for you to support The 6th Annual Noah Consulting Father's Joy Charity Golf Classic on Friday May 18th at Wildcat Golf Club. For those of you unfamiliar with the charity, I would like to give you some of the background on its founders and why I feel so strongly about their mission.
I married into a great group of friends with my wife Allyson. Among them are Kristin and Shannon Tassin who have a family we could all stand to emulate. The Tassin's oldest daughter Abby was born with Down Syndrome. On a day that should have been met with great celebration, they were given overly negative, devastating news about what their child could not achieve. The hospital had no literature or counseling available to assist the parents of a special needs child. Through the power of prayer and the incredible will of this family, the Tassin's vowed to help other parents have a better parenthood experience than they did and to remind the entire world what special gifts each child brings into the world regardless of his or her disability.
I can tell you that Abby is one of the happiest 12 year olds I know. She is thriving in her public school classroom and participates/enjoys all the same activities of everyone her age. She is proof of God's love for every child and the shining star of what Father's Joy is all about.
But that's just scratching the surface of the story of my passion for the Tassin's work.
My wife and I are looking forward to being parents soon. We thought that our time was 3 years ago. We were expecting our 1st child when a doctor told my wife that something didn't look right on one of her tests. The doctor could not determine exactly what was wrong, but suspected that our child had a birth defect. The doctor tried to convince her to end the pregnancy, but we told them we would love our child unconditionally and wanted to have the baby. Unfortunately we lost our child a month later.
It was a devastating blow to us and my sorrow was later accompanied with anger when we met with a "genetic counselor" at the behest of my wife's physician. I could not believe the negativity and discouragement coming from this trained professional when it came to the idea of raising a special needs child. It's just not right for anyone to tell a parent or a child that there is no hope. There's a small part of us that will probably always be missing, but it also reinforces our belief that all children are a precious gift given by God that should be given every opportunity to fulfill their potential regardless of the obstacles in front of them. This is why we play and why I feel so strongly about this charity.
A special thanks to our "Eagle Sponsors" for the Father's Joy Charity Classic.
Our thanks to Pena's Donut Heaven and Grill for providing delicious kolaches and donuts for breakfast.
You can sign up to play golf right here:
http://www.fathersjoy.org/golf/index.html
If you don't play golf, there are still ways for you to contribute. We have an incredible silent auction that is underway as we speak. You can bid on some once in a lifetime experiences including some "celebrity lunches" that I have put together. You can begin the bidding right here: www.biddingforgood.com/fathersjoy
You and a guest will have lunch with former Rockets/Knicks coach and current ESPN Hoops analyst Jeff Van Gundy and Sports Talk 790's Matt Jackson. Jeff has so many great stories from the league and can give a unique perspective on his time with the Rockets as well. http://www.biddingforgood.com/auction/item/Item.action?id=164054508
http://www.biddingforgood.com/auction/item/Item.action?id=164019355
