I am fundraising in honor of my precious son, Landyn, lost to SUDC (Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood) in 2018, by riding my bicycle (no, it isn't electric, lol) in the 2022 RAGBRAI Annual Great Bicycle Ride, across Iowa. This event will be on July 23-30, 2022.
My goal is to raise $1,816.40 which represents $4.00 for every mile I ride before my ride is finished on the 30th of July. The $4 represents the four of us at the time - Landyn, Jenni (Me), Patrick (Dad), and Jade (our dog). I will post pictures daily here, along with miles ridden.
The SUDC Foundation is the only organization worldwide whose purpose is to promote awareness, advocate for research, and support those affected by SUDC. SUDC is the fifth leading category of death in children ages one to four, yet SUDC receives no public funding. All services are provided at no cost to families.
Landyn, our first-born son, has clear, bright blue eyes that you can stare at all day, bright blonde hair, and a gorgeous smile. He’s the boy that people walked across the store solely to tell us he was just the most handsome and beautiful boy they’ve ever seen. His favorite color is orange and he loved wearing a blue dinosaur hat with a Ferris wheel on it. Being naked in his cowboy boots was a daily endeavor, inside and outside the house. He’s the boy at the library where everyone stopped dancing, and he continued to, very independent, brave, and courageous. His positivity and happiness are contagious, you can’t help but smile and laugh. His enjoyment for life allowed us to experience it in an entirely different view, a childlike one where everything was fun and new, and we danced often. His eagerness to learn allowed him to excel in his intelligence and made everything we came in contact with interesting. He could walk a mile and hold a chin up for seven seconds at 13 months old; I always said he would get his first muscle-up before me. He loved the gym and grew up in it with me coaching, using him as a barbell in demonstrations and just chilling with his toys watching everyone workout. He would do push presses and overhead carries with sticks in the backyard. Running all around, as well as yoga, were some of his favorites too. He loved his Curious George (aka Monkey) and Peter Rabbit stuffed animals which he slept and traveled with. I will be carrying Monkey with me on this ride.
Until the rainy and dreary day of Sunday the 15th of April in 2018, at 12:15am, my husband and I had never heard of SUDC. Rather than spending the morning at Church like usual, our day turned into an unexpected living Hell. It is considered rare and is absolutely unpreventable and unpredictable. It affects about 400 children ages 1 to 18 in the US where healthy children do not wake up from sleep with zero explanation, not even after further bloodwork and an autopsy, as hard as that is to believe. On that morning, a pink rose bloomed in our backyard for the first and only time up to that point of us living in our house. The only other time it bloomed one pink rose, was a month before his sister was born. The days and weeks leading up to April 15th were completely normal; in fact, 24 hours prior we were at the gym taking a yoga class. Three hours prior to him going to Heaven, he said ‘I love you’ for the first time, and I checked on him when I went to bed at 11pm where he was sound asleep and peaceful, just like normal, which was an hour and 15 minutes prior. It wasn’t until the morning when I hadn’t heard him talking to and playing with his stuffed animals that I went to check on him and my worst nightmare that I could never imagine, happened. That was the day our life as we knew it changed and would never ever be the same, the morning Our Son became Our Guardian Angel as He crossed over the Rainbow Bridge into God’s arms with Jade welcoming him Home.
