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The Tatton Brown Rahman Syndrome Community Exercise Challenge began with Ashley Hatton from Manassas, Virginia. While attending the TBRS Conference in New York last fall, Ashley saw a “fundraising tree.” There were tags on the tree and unbeknownst to her mom, Ashley removed a tag and then later in the day showed it to her mom. The tag was for a “walk.” That began a long process of debate within her mom as to how she would make this happen. How could Ashley’s mom step up to the challenge that Ashley presented her? So after careful thought and deliberation, an idea was born. Could a walk-a-thon or some other type of exercise challenge be set up where the TBRS kids and adults could participate and challenge others to join? Ashley’s mom received help and support from Jill Kiernan, Kacee Richter, and the TBRS Fundraising Committee.
So the TBRS Challenge was born. Beginning in March, the participants registered and began obtaining sponsors, and on April 1 – April 30, 2020, TBRS kids/adults and siblings began their individual challenges. The goal for the challenge was to engage as many TBRS kids and adults to participate and to raise $1,000. Ashley, with the help of her Life Coach, Andre, and her mom, created videos to motivate and inspire participants. Each participant exercised the whole month, walking, hiking, riding bikes, shooting hoops, etc. Covid-19 did play a role as some participants wanted to swim but pools were closed. Covid-19 did not stop the participants from making adjustments and so they challenged themselves in different ways.
As a result, the TBRS participants raised more than $11,500 for their community. How inspiring is that!!!!! These kids and adults rose to the occasion and they showed how amazing and awesome they are. These participants showed enthusiasm, strength, encouragement for each other, and a willingness to work for their cause while also gaining some good exercise habits and confidence in their abilities.
A big thank you to the TBRS Challenge participants: Ashley Hatton, Morgan Rooker, Peyton Koblizka, Ayden Isaacs, Lucas and Owen Richter, Aevary Kiernan, Timmy Bahadi, Andrew Skattum, Layla Brown, Damion van den Berg, and Joshua Skattum.
