Children's Miracle Network

In the Miss America Organization the contestants are required to have a platform. This is a topic that the contestant is passionate about, continuously active in, gets communities involved in, and knowledgeable about. A platform can be anything from eating disorders, drug/alcohol/smoking awareness, human trafficking, illness awareness/fundraising, self esteem, education, healthy eating, anything the contestant is truly passionate about. My personal platform is Inspiring The Gift of Life. I am an educational and motivational speaker on the behalf of Cystic Fibrosis, as I live day to day with this disease. I also am a passionate speaker for Donate Life because I am a double lung transplant recipient. The Miss America platform is Children's Miracle Network. This program benefits children's hospitals across the United States and Canada. Children's Miracle Network supports research and training, purchasing equipment, pays for uncompensated care, and helping improve hospital grounds. Every contestant is required to work on both personal and national platforms. I have been advertising donations for Children's Miracle Network for the past few months and have raised over $600. Thank you to everyone who has donated!
Children's Miracle Network has a special place in my heart. Because I have Cystic Fibrosis I was constantly in the hospital for weeks at a time. I received my care at Phoenix Children's Hospital; a Children's Miracle Network hospital. I spent 41 days there over the summer of 2013. Patients at Phoenix Children's with Cystic Fibrosis are not allowed to leave their rooms. We are not allowed to go on walks. We are not allowed to go outside. We are confined to our rooms until we are discharged from the hospital completely. This is to protect us from catching anything that could make our situation worse. However, after being hospitalized for over a month, there are exceptions that can be made. After a month, I was not getting any better and in fact getting worse. I was allowed to go on supervised walks to a secluded outside walkway. I was having a very difficult time walking even the slightest. I was thankful and delighted that this secluded walkway that was shaded between two buildings, was equipped with benches. There was a garden and art all over. I was able to go on this walk for 30 minutes a day. Being able to breathe fresh air and feel the Arizona heat was so uplifting for me. This walkway and benches I have described were all donated and made possible to Children's Miracle Network. In this time of my life I was so afraid and unsure of what was to happen to me. It was so nice to have a small escape and be able to feel the Sun a little, or breathe fresh air.
So know with a donation to Children's Miracle Network you help provide memories like my own that make a huge difference in a life that is in dire need of some kind of normalcy. Although my life has been impacted in many different ways by Children's Miracle Network, the benches were my favorite.
XO- A