By Gary Lloyd
CLAY — A local family is looking for people to participate in a run to benefit Easter Seals of Birmingham.
Easter Seals of Birmingham has a 5K run and one-mile fun run every year to raise money for Easter Seals Pediatric Therapy in Pelham. This year’s run will be Saturday, March 21 at The Preserve in Hoover. It’s a family-friendly event with live music, face painting, games, bouncy houses and local vendors.
Kristina and Josh Moses, who live in the Clay-Pinson area, have a daughter named Rowan, who was born in January 2011 with a cleft lip and palate, small ear canals, fused toes and skeletal anomalies.
“Her first year of life was very hard,” Kristina Moses said. “She endured feeding issues, reflux, numerous tests, weekly therapy, and two surgeries to fix her lip and palate. For almost two years, we had no idea how well she could hear because her ear canals were so small.”
She said it seemed like the family received bad news every time Rowan went to see one of her many specialists.
“Despite it all, she is healthy, happy and has quite a personality,” Kristina Moses said.
Rowan has been attending Easter Seals Pediatric Therapy in Pelham for about two years for speech. When she first started, it was hard for her parents to understand anything she said, especially for anyone outside their home. Rowan wasn’t putting sentences together and would often get upset because her parents couldn’t understand what she was trying to tell them.
“After six months of therapy, she was like a whole different child,” Kristina Moses said. “She was forming sentences and was becoming more intelligible. She also started to gain confidence in herself and her frustration was happening less.”
Rowan was selected to be an ambassador for Easter Seals of Birmingham this year. Kristina Moses said to show how much her family appreciates the help for her daughter, Rowan has a team for the event — Rowan’s Runners. The goal is to raise $2,000.
“This is our chance to give back,” Kristina Moses said.
She said the Mia Moo Fund has donated an autographed book from “Duck Dynasty’s” Phil Robertson, an autographed duck call from Jase Robertson and an autographed photo of Jase and Mia Robertson. For every $10 donated, givers can earn a chance to win these prizes.
For more information, visit https://runsignup.com/rowansrunners or email rowansrunners@yahoo.com.
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.