Saturday 7/9/16

WOD

Teams of 2 against another team of 2.
15 Minute clock:
Team 1 performs as many tire flips as possible,
Team 2 assaults bikes for calories 40/30.
When team 2 finishes their calories on the bike
the teams switch movements.  Score is total number
of tire flips.

Chad stopped in again today and wanted to thank everyone and he sent us this letter which we are posting below.  Even in these hard times, Chad’s positive attitude is uplifting and inspiring. We at Helo also just wanted to say thank you to each of our members for being so gracious as well.  

I would first like to say thank you for your generosity, and kindness while we undergo some difficult times in our family with our daughter Savannah. I thought I would take this opportunity to tell everyone about Savannah.

​Savannah will turn 14 years old in August.  She was diagnosed with Rett Syndrome when she was 18 months old.  Most people have never heard of Rett Syndrome, we hadn’t either.  Rett’s only affects girls. Rett Syndrome is a genetic deformation on the “X” chromosome.  What that means is girls have 2 “X” chromosomes and boys have 1.  Girls can take what they need to survive from the good “X”. This all occurs at the very early stages of pregnancy.  Rett Syndrome effects all aspects of Savannah’s life.  Rett girls go through regression stages where they will lose certain skills such as walking, crawling, talking, eating etc. Savannah has never been able to walk, but she did crawl until she was about 6 years old. Savannah has slowly lost other skills like feeding herself, and eating in general.  Some of the difficulties is each Rett girl is affected slightly different.  They all possess some common traits such as “hand wringing”.  If you ever meet a girl with Rett, chances are they wringing their hands together.  They also have an incredible way of communicating just by looking at you.   

Savannah has grown up a very typical Rett girl.  She has had to fight through some difficulties as every special needs child does. Savannah is a very happy girl, she loves being with her big sister and acting like a teenager.  She also loves being with her little sister and acting like a 4-year-old. Although she is confined to a wheelchair, she loves going places and seeing people.  She is always so excited when people come up and talk to her. Even though she can’t talk back, I promise she is listening!  

​ For the most part, Savannah has had a very healthy life. April 2015, her scoliosis had reached a point that she required some major surgery to try and correct her curvature.  This surgery was very successful and they placed permanent rods from her hips to her shoulders.  During the recovery from the surgery she contracted some nasty pneumonia. We spend 51 days in the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit), at Primary Children’s hospital.  Savannah spent the next 9 months being the healthiest she has ever been.  

Our luck ran out in May and the pneumonia struck again.  We were admitted to Riverton hospital on May 24, we thought things were going good until she had a seizure (which is normal for us) that caused her to aspirate a bunch of gunk.  Savannah got an awesome helicopter ride to Primary Children’s Hospital courtesy of Life flight on May 27.  We have been living in the PICU since.  I have to say that Savannah is one of the toughest people I have ever had the privilege to know.  She has fought through some very difficult painful trials.  And she continues to fight every single day.  Savannah has tried to get off from the breathing machines 3 times, and each time her body just couldn’t do it alone.  We have had to face some very difficult decisions, and have decided to go down the path of a tracheostomy and ventilator, so that we can bring Savannah home.  

This surgery will take place in the very near future and we will be in the hospital for a few more weeks.  I know that Savannah will continue to fight with everything she has, and we will fight with her and for her.

Please visit rettsyndrome.org  to learn more about Rettsyndrome.

​Thank you again for all the support and prayers we have received.  

​​​​​​​​​Chad Hahn,

​​​​​​​​​Savannah Hahn