Stephanie Burdick

We are so excited to be back supporting Team NEHI Warriors at the Million Dollar Bike Ride!

Riley is 8.5 years old and will be entering the 3rd grade this fall! We celebrated this past April when Riley got to take her g-tube out!! She had her feeding tube for almost 8 years to the day, so getting to remove it was a huge accomplishment for her (us)!! Riley is an amazing student and enjoys reading and math. She loves cheerleading and is participating in her first musical this June! Riley is hoping to be able to transition to nighttime only oxygen soon!

Spencer is 6 years old and will be entering the 1st grade this fall! Spencer has been off oxygen since he was 4 years old. He loves to play flag football and video games. He is smart and inquisitive. To me, Spencer is proof that research is crucial to improving outcomes in our NEHI Warriors. He demonstrates that with very early intervention strategies, such as supplemental oxygen and additional caloric intake, he was able to come off oxygen quicker than Riley. He was also never diagnosed with failure to thrive (as Riley was). We, with our pulmonologist's support, took, these early interventions because of Riley's NEHI diagnosis and family genetic history with NEHI, but the majority of families are not given a chance. Research shows there is a correlation - as seen in Spencer. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29393588/.

This is why we support Team NEHI Warriors to fund critical medical research.