Long Overdue Update

Lots of fun happenings and events since the last blog post. Later this summer, Travis heads to the NIH for his 4 year clinical trial appointments!! Thankfully no major side effects, with the biggest still his platinum blond hair. :) Total tumor shrinkage...38%!!!! This is AMAZING news!!

T's first comment after hearing 38% shrinkage..."Cool, I have David Ragan's number shrinkage!"

Over the past year, the NIH filmed Travis during our NIH visits to create a video for first time families. He thoroughly enjoyed the process and made fast friends with the filming crew. What an amazing group of individuals for such a fun project!! A true honor for us all.

As time flew by, Travis finished elementary school and will head to middle school in the fall. Thank you to the wonderful teachers, principal, and staff at his elementary school. They create such an environment of learning and caring, so fun to watch Travis succeed in this environment. We all shed a few tears during the clapout for the 6th graders, such a great tradition.

Last day of school for the boys
L-R: Barrett (9th), Travis (6th), Nolan (11th)

Last fall Travis had a nodular lesion removed from his pelvis. This lesion did not respond to the clinical trial medicine and actually grew over the course of time. Dr. Jones, the same surgeon who repaired his fractured femur both times, performed the surgery. He removed the lesion without complications.

Travis with Dr Jones before surgery

Travis after Oct '18 surgery

Dr. Jones, the same surgeon who repaired his fractured femur both times, performed the surgery. He removed the lesion without complications.

The clinical trial medicine affects wound healing, so he didn't take the clinical trial medicine for 3 weeks. Travis' hair returned to his natural color in that time, so as his hair grew, he had a "chemo stripe" of blond and brown. The pathology report came back with no indications of malignancy...great news!


During a brain MRI at the NIH for their Natural History study, the radiologists discovered a cyst in Travis' brain that wasn't there 8 years prior. We added a neurosurgeon to Travis' team and Travis repeats the brain MRI at the NIH in August. Praying no growth and what happened a long time ago was a single occurrence.

Mar '19 image on left, Jul '11 image on right

Travis enjoys a variety of adaptive sports throughout the year; including, but not limited too: Miracle League baseball, adaptive skiing, wheelchair tennis, wheelchair basketball, adaptive Tae Kwon Do, and more. Let us know if you are in the area, we would love to meet up and grab ice cream at Travis' favorite store, Howdy Homemade, and favorite flavor, Travis Hot Tamale.

Our weekly excursion.

Travis' summer adventures include: Jr High Mission Trip, wheelchair sports camp, wheelchair tennis, and super exciting...Camp Fantastic for NIH patients. He will spend a week at a 4-H camp in Virginia for pediatric patients at the NIH and his doctors will be the medical staff at the camp.

#imwithTravis #EndNF

The Race Day Foundation in Utah 2017

Family...our Racing Family...a group of people brought together by a commonality. We often comment how a race track provides a place of healing for Travis. Throughout the years, Travis made great friendships with many drivers and he thoroughly seeing his friends (more like his racing family) at the track. The Pirelli World Challenge (PWC) series arrived in Utah in August, bringing with them many of Travis' friends. Thanks to The Race Day Foundation, Travis, Barrett, and I spent 24 of 52 hours at the race track with T's sports car racing friends. That's a lot of healing!!!

We arrived at Utah Motorsports Campus on Friday to watch practices for the different series and catch up with T's racing friends. During the 2016 PWC races in Utah, Travis raced Tom O'Gorman and both prepared for a rematch this year. :)  Since the last post, Travis' left hip completely dislocated (more on this in another post) and we observe more times with discomfort, as observed in pictures. Throughout the weekend we captured moments where Travis escaped this new reality. Much appreciation to Compass 360 Racing for the hospitality for all the Race Day Foundation families during the weekend!!

The start of our weekend

Compass 360 Racing!

We spent much if Friday visiting with our racing friends and watching the practices for each of the different racing classes. I enjoy watching Travis as he closely follows his driver friends as they race around the track.

Watching the GT3 Cup Porsches take the track

Discussing their racing rematch with Tom O'Gorman (TOMO)

We stopped at Real Time Racing Acura to see Ryan Eversley, a great friend to so many facing medical challenges, while walking through the paddock. Ryan noticed Travis' new ride and commented he needed better steering. Ryan brought out his racing steering wheel for Travis to hold (and some great pics) and explained each button to the kids. This meant so much to Travis and the hands on learning really stuck with Travis. Thank you Ryan!!!

I think T loves it!

And this is my supersonic speed button ;) 

We returned to the track early Saturday morning to catch the TC-TCA-TCB class qualifying before meeting up with the Race Day Foundation. Since Nolan is spending the school year in Germany as a US Student Ambassador through CBYX, we carry a picture of him with us so he doesn't miss out.

Start of Day 2 

#alwaysracing

We cheered on our friends and teams through qualification and headed to the meeting spot for The Race Day Foundation tour. It's always great to walk through the garage area and see so many friends (family) we've made throughout the years. Many of the people know Travis by name and always ask how he's doing. One of the teams Travis really connected with is Compass 360 Racing. Many thanks to Karl Thompson and his entire crew for their generosity of time as they share their passion with Travis and our family. This friendship/familyship creates an environment of healing and support for Travis. It's no surprise he wanted to include them on his recent brace.

Travis wanted C360 Racing stickers added on his new ride

Checking out the race car

Karl Thompson, Barrett, and Travis talking racing

Soon enough the time arrived for our tour to begin. We are thankful to The Race Day Foundation for these opportunities to create a time/space away from medical challenges, including the entire family as the medical affects us all.

Meeting Bob Stallings of Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing

T watching the crew work on the Gainsco "Red Dragon"

T checking out the TR3 Racing Ferrari

Barrett with Paul Holton's C360 Racing car

T wishing Tom O'Gorman good luck

The group made our way to the near grandstands to watch the first TC-TCA-TCB race of the day. Watching racing is fun, it's better when you are watching your friends compete. Unfortunately, this race brought damage to Paul Holton in the No. 71 Compass 360 Racing Acura. However, a few of T's racing friends completed the race with a podium finish, so we headed to the podium area for the celebrations.

Great views to watch racing

Congrats Craig Stanton on TCA P3!!

Shea Racing invited the group to their garage area for lunch after the race and we all celebrated Shea Holbrook's victory in the TCA morning race. Travis even got to "spray" the team with water from his water bottle...no one minded since it is summer in Utah.

First place

Group photo with Shea Holbrook

Slalom racing

We headed to the grandstands by Turn 1 to watch the GT race and cheer on more friends and family. It's a tight turn after a long straightaway, so the potential exists for lots of action. With so many friends made over the years, we usually get to cheer for someone we know at the podium after the race. This time was no exception.

Go Ryan Eversley!!

Congratulations Jason Hart and Matt Travis!!

Another P1 finish

T wanted to get his racing family to autographs on his Race Day Foundation shirt, so we stopped by Real Time Racing to see Ryan Eversley and both his and his co-driver Tom Dyer autographed T's shirt. We also saw a long-time friend Spencer Pumpelly with Magnus Racing and naturally collected Paul Holton's autograph too.

Tom Dyer

Thank you Ryan!!

Always a great day when you see Spencer Pumpelly

Paul Holton

Jill Beck's turn

We owe so much to Jill Beck and how much she shares her racing passion with Travis. She truly single-handedly changed the course of Travis' life through her spirit, generosity of time and dedication, inclusion, and so much more!! No track visit with Jill would be complete without a picture of she and Travis. So many words, so many shared memories, so much LOVE for Travis and our family. Thank you is never enough!!

Travis and Jill

We walked through the garage area and came to the Cadillac Racing tent. Nolan is a huge fan of Ricky and Jordan Taylor and even met them briefly at the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona. While attempting a "selfie" with Nolan's head, one of the crew members noticed us. We explained about Nolan being in Germany and he invited us in to get a closer picture of Nolan with the cars. He then had the driver Michael Cooper come out to meet us...such an amazing person!! Shortly after Ricky and Jordan Taylor came out and talked with us. Such great guys and anyone who knows their humor knows they laughed when we explained about Nolan's head. Thanks!!

"Nolan" by Cadillac Racing

Michael Cooper autographing T's shirt. He offered the boys ice cream too.

Barrett, Jordan Taylor, Travis, Ricky Taylor, and "Nolan"

We headed to see Jason Hart where he and Travis could get some quality racing done. You may remember that Jason had Travis autograph his helmet so he could take Travis on the track with him. After many, many laps/miles, Travis' autograph needed refreshing. Thank you so much Jason!! These 2 are so similar, it's not surprising they hit it off when they met in Daytona in January 2013.

Travis "refreshing" his autograph on Jason's Helmet

:) 

I wasn't sure we'd get Barrett out of there

Travis and Jason racing

We made our way back to the track and watched the last TC-TCA-TCB race of the weekend and cheered on our friends once again. Unfortunately our friends at Compass 360 Racing didn't finish as well as their pole starting position, but Travis' friend Tom O'Gorman ended up P3. Tom needed the good luck as he raced Travis at the end of the day. They started their races against each other in 2016, T in his power chair and Tom on a bike..

Go C360R!

Getting Tom's autograph added to his shirt

They have so much fun together

Racing down...

...and back

Victory Celebrations

Travis wanted an oval race

T for the win

Thanks TOMO for the fun after your full day of racing!!!

These two..best of times

Travis then raced Shea Holbrook, and no surprise he won. That completed Day 2 of a fun-filled day at Utah Motorsports Campus.

We returned bright and early Sunday morning for more racing action and to catch the autograph session for the remaining PWC drivers. The windy day brought an added challenge to get the posters signed and trying to keep them from flying away. A few of the pictures from the autograph session.

Always great to visit with Patrick Long

Collecting autographs from Magnus Racing

As we made our way through the garage area back to the stands, we stopped to talk with several friends, including Brian Dunne with Magnus Racing and Alec Udell.

Thanks Brian!! He attended a local Rocky Mountain Raceways event when he was here testing in the summer. 

Travis is grabbing his "steering wheel" in a picture with Alec Udell

We watched several more races and stopped by Ryan Eversley's garage to wish him luck before his next race. Ryan commented that Barrett wasn't wearing an Acura hat and that he would get that fixed for B. ;)  Much appreciation to Ryan for all he does for ALL the NF Heroes and their families while at the track! Fortunately, there many drivers and crew that are extremely generous with their time and friendship for with our family. This makes the time at the track even more special!!

Thanks Ryan!

Good luck fist bump

And their own special touch...Not sure who is having more fun at this moment

Final race

Ryan and Tom on their way to P2!

Ryan and B's new hat! Congrats on P2!

Several of our racing friends finished on the podium in their respective racing classes. We headed to the podium to celebrate along with them and offer congratulations!

Congrats Jason Hart and Matt Travis on P1!!

Congratulating Jordan Taylor on P3!!

Congrats Michael Cooper and Jordan Taylor on P3!

Congrats on P1 to the TR3 Racing Ferrari (the yellow Ferrari from Saturday)

All to soon the race weekend drew to a close. Such an amazing time catching up with our racing family and making new friends. These weekends renew T's spirit, fill our family with amazing memories to sustain us through the upcoming medical challenges (or other challenges we face). Many thanks to The Race Day Foundation and Jill Beck for providing these experiences that provide care beyond a clinical setting...this is really "Where Kids Finish First"!

Happy race fans with shirts filled with autographs