Please join us on Saturday, July 25th at 1:45 P.M. for a drive by to celebrate Ian’s 9th Birthday! Ian is a happy 9 year old who was born with multiple brain abnormalities. He was prenatally diagnosed with an encephalocele (a hole in his skull), a small hole in his heart, an enlarged/multi-cystic kidney, and agenesis of corpus callosum. Lets make this birthday the best one yet for Ian and show support for our own members families! Ian’s father Kevin is a member of our group.
We have worked with the City of Dublin and the Dublin Police Department to coordinate this event. Per the City of Dublin’s recommendations we are changing the meet up location to Davis Middle School, 2400 Sutter Pkwy, Dublin, OH 43016 given there is a baseball tournament going on at Emerald Fields (previous meet up location). PLEASE ENSURE ALL THE RULES OF THE ROAD ARE FOLLOWED. All members attend at their own risk and assume their own responsibility.
RSVP: Click here to RSVP
Event details:
Time: 1:45 P.M. at the meet up location
Meet up location: Davis Middle School, 2400 Sutter Pkwy, Dublin, OH 43016 (will leave at 2:00 P.M. to head to Ian’s house)
Drive by location (Ian’s house): 2271 Sutter Pkwy, Dublin, Ohio 43016
RSVP: Click here to RSVP
For more about Ian’s story provided by the Finisterre Family please see below:
Ian is a happy and healthy (almost) 9 year old who was born with multiple brain abnormalities. He was prenatally diagnosed with an encephalocele (a hole in his skull), a small hole in his heart, an enlarged/multi-cystic kidney, and agenesis of corpus callosum. Agenesis of corpus callosum means that basically the right and left halves of Ian’s brain do not communicate with each other like they should. For a point of reference the main character in the movie Rain Main was based on a real life person named Kim Peek, whom also lacked a corpus collosum. Ian was literally not expected to be able to coordinate the left and right sides of his body, and an early diagnosis suggested he may be “incompatible with life”.During his 11-day NICU stay following birth Ian was diagnosed with Holoprosencephaly (HPE), an abnormality in which the brain fails to divide into two separate hemispheres. Due to the nature of the abnormality, it is estimated that only 1% of people diagnosed with HPE survive past 1 year of life. Additionally, most people living with HPE are severely disabled. Not only did he endure brain surgery as an infant, Ian also spent his first 3 years of life in various therapies just trying to keep up. Ian’s brain needs extra time and tons of repetition to learn any new skills, and as such his family literally had to teach him to crawl, walk, run, and even talk with the assistance of endless numbers of therapy sessions.
Since birth Ian has also been diagnosed with autism and ADHD. The combination of brain abnormalities causes Ian to work harder and longer than most people to learn any new skill because he is developmentally delayed in several areas. In his daily life, Ian struggles most with memory issues because his short-term memory is terrible. His parents lovingly refer to him as their “Dory fish” a reference to Dory in the movie Finding Nemo. Many special needs parents find that the Dory character resonates with their family struggles.
“Hi, I’m Dory. I suffer from short-term remembery loss” – Dory
If you would like to learn more, a good portion of Ian’s birth story is documented on the Finisterre family blog, which actually hasn’t been updated since his big surgery! http://digitalmunition.com/TheFam/FinisterreFamily/Blog/Blog.html
For an (almost) 9 year old Ian is still very dependent on his parents to help with daily living tasks. Despite the many challenges, Ian is thriving. He is very social and loves making people laugh, especially his little sister. He is always telling jokes and finding new ways to put a smile on your face. He loves eating candy and spending time playing outside with his family. This summer, Ian is looking forward to playing on his new swing set, having water balloon fights with his family and finding new outdoor nature spots to explore.
Ian was disappointed to hear that he won’t be having a birthday party this summer because of social distancing. He keeps forgetting about social distancing and therefore keeps getting disappointed over and over when he relearns that he won’t be having a party this year. His birthday parties have always brought friends and family together to celebrate the true miracle of his life. Birthdays are a big deal because of the possibility that he wan’t even likely to survive birth, or his first year of life.
When Ian heard that the Tesla Community in Columbus considering finding a lucky kid in town to do a Tesla drive-by similar to what other Tesla Communities are doing he instantly said “duh! How about me!”
We’d feel extremely lucky to have the opportunity to give him a Tesla parade. The love and support our family receives from friends, family, co-workers and the community allows us to continue to help Ian live a full and happy life. The extra love and attention on special days reminds us to never give up. A birthday parade will be such a fun and unique way to celebrate a fun and unique kid! Thank you to everyone that may be able to participate. A special thank you to Tesla Columbus Ohio Owners Group from the Finisterre family.