Post race update

We had an amazing weekend in Knoxville. It was great to see friends and family we haven't seen in a while. The race on Sunday was awesome and feel so blessed to have so many people supporting and praying for sweet Piper. I am shocked I was actually able to finish the half marathon considering my training consisted of a couple long walks with a stroller. I had planned on walking the whole thing and I ended up running half of the race. My time was under 3 hours so I beat my goal by 30 minutes. This is the third race I have ever done and the first half marathon so I'm pretty proud of myself! The night before the race Piper decided to stay up all night to remind me what I was going to be running for. I guess she had pre race jitters too.

While Justin was running he had a man ask him who he knows with Aicardi. Justin told him it was his daughter and asked the man if he was familiar with the syndrome. He said he is a pediatric neurologist in Knoxville and has worked with a girl who has Aicardi too. Justin told him we were getting ready to call and make an appointment in the next few weeks and he said he can't wait to meet her. What are the chances that out of over 7000 people in the race that the doctor we have been talking about seeing happens to run next to Justin and introduce himself?? Hello God, we hear you!

Piper was in a great mood all weekend. She barely slept she was so excited to see and hear people. The medicine is still keeping her seizures around 50 a day and they are still mild. She is slowly getting stronger but we have noticed that she is able to hold her head up for longer periods of time and can almost roll over again. It is definitely a slow process and we are continuing to be patient and celebrate everything she does. She will be getting physical therapy once a week along with visits from our early interventionist. We have many activities and exercises to promote physical, social, and cognitive skills. So far she is progressing faster in the physical area. We haven't noticed much of a change in the other areas but will keep working hard. No smiles yet but we can tell when she is happy by the "talking" she does. She is a blessing and constantly reminds us to be thankful for everything God has blessed us with.

We have decided that this race is just the beginning of many that we will do. We are going to continue to sell shirts and raise awareness for Aicardi. We have extra tee shirts if anyone did not get a chance to order. You can email me at Anniekoozer22@gmail.com or send me a Facebook message.

Once again, thank you so much for the prayers, donations, kind words and love that you have given us. We would not be where we are without you.