Saturday, July 25, 2009

A Little Leaguer with cerebral palsy gets to hang with the Yankees



I just got home from BlogHer, will post about it by Monday, lots to tell! First, I had to tell you about this. A few years ago a friend introduced me to Richard Ellenson, the guy who created the Tango, a groundbreaking communication device. He has a wonderful kid, Tom, who has cerebral palsy. Richard, who at first knew nothing about augmentative communication, created the device to help his son interact with the world.

I was just roaming around Twitter and saw a few people had linked to a story about a Little Leaguer with cerebral palsy who got to hang out with the Yankees this week. I go to check it out and, holy cow, it's Tom! It made me cry, from happiness.

The Yankees also made a $10,000 donation to United Cerebral Palsy in Tom's name.

Richard and Tom, you amaze me.

9 comments:

  1. How awesome is that? Thanks for sharing that story.

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  2. Thanks for sharing the link

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  3. Wow, what an awesome story. It (almost) made a Yankee fan out of me. =) All joking aside, it was incredibly sweet of them to meet Tom and make such a generous donation.

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  4. What a great video! What a great Dad - he took a problem and created a solution. And Tom looks like an amazing kid.

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  5. So cool. I just came across you blog and read the entire thing. You kids are darling.

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  6. I am tired...sorry for the typos! :)

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  7. that is a great story thanks for sharing, and I have heard there was tons of drama at blogher so I can't wait to hear your perspective

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  8. I am an aid to a cp child in our public school system. I have had the pleasure of being with him for 5, going on 6 years. He communicates with a dynavox! It is an amazing device. He is really great with it. Some of his close friends and I can communicate with him through speech and expressions, unspoken words. It is the most rewarding career in the world! I get to experience life at school with my little guy! It's amazing. If you have lost hopes of kindness in this world, just watch kids interact with a spec. needs friend. I could write a book about the acts of kindness and compassion I have seen in our public school. I have a website you can check out if you like. I did write a book that I read to the younger children every year. http://sharonstrickland.webs.com/
    Sharon :)

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  9. Very cool... Sorry I didn't comment sooner, I was too busy shooting our Little League championships... As I had mentioned so may times before ... get your kids involved in sports! Your kids CAN play baseball in Challenger Little League and other groups like Merical League...

    I also did a camp for blind children we taught them about JUDO... get out, and go play!!!

    Leagues don't assume your disabled child knows.. you need to call them! We are trying so hard to start a Challenger League.. but NO ONE is calling!

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Thanks for sharing!



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