Purely personal

Had my daughter lived, she would be 25 years old this year.

Pardon me but this note has nothing about politics or policy; it's purely personal.

I have burdened you perhaps too often with the details of how my daughter Parker, our only child at the time, died of a cruel, aggressive and untreatable form of cancer just days before her first birthday.

or what others think, well, nothing in hell could be more punishing.

Accept trying to live without her.

The universe threw me a lifeline when my second daughter entered the world and made me a parent again. She gave me a place to put my love.

And then a boy came. He had Down Syndrome and a heart so disfigured that it would not keep him alive for more than just a few weeks. We found ourselves back at Children's Hospital, where this time, they did have the talent and technology to keep me from burying another child.

They saved my son Chance. In the following years, Chance would have some 14 surgeries, small and large, at Children's Hospital. Chance is now 21 years old and rips through life with a mad, savage appetite for joy and love.

Many years ago, Tracy Kimball Smith, our talented graphic artist, decided to honor Parker's memory by riding in The Courage Classic, the fundraising event for Children's Hospital where she bicycled up and down mountain passes. Since then, Team Parker has raised nearly a quarter million dollars for Children’s.

Yes, this has helped save the lives of little people in the Rocky Mountain West, people like my son. But it has also kept alive the memory of a little who girl brought so much beauty and love into this world that I will never be able to repay her.

So a year after surviving a heart attack, I've decided to join Tracy and her merry band of cyclists to go up and down the hills between Copper Mountain and Vail soon. Well, I’ve decided to try to bike up and down the hills. Tracy assures me that every few miles they have water station and scotch stations.

This note is to ask you to help us raise money for Children's.

If we raise $20,000 this year our cumulative total will surpass the quarter million mark. More importantly, it'll help Children's be ready for when a little child you love needs them most.

Would you please choose a Team Parker rider or two from this list and sponsor them for this bicycle, and presumably scotch, event. It would mean the world to me. It would mean a longer life for my son. It would honor the memory of Parker. But most of all, it would allow little ones we’ve never met to grow up into big healthy ones.

And thank you again for indulging me over these many years as I talk about my children. I love them like you love yours.

Here at Independence Institute we have a slogan, “Think Freedom.” Your gift today gives the greatest gift of freedom to children. You can Give Freedom.

Please help us right now.