Day 173: Downloaded A Song

Avery Canahuati accomplished a whole lot in a short amount of time on Earth.  Shortly after she was born on 11/11/11, she was diagnosed with Spinal muscular atrophy (or SMA), and was given only 18 months to live.  After receiving this diagnosis, Avery's parents decided that in the time they had left with Avery, they would compile a bucket list of things for her to do that she may not get the opportunity to do in the future.  Things like getting her driver's license (and driving a car), throw out the first pitch at a baseball game, have her first kiss, and have a birthday party.  Avery was able to do so many of these things before, sadly, she passed away on April 30.  Now that I think about it, I shouldn't have spoken in the past tense about Avery's accomplishments because she continues to cross things off of her bucket list even today. 

Recently, recording artist Randy McLellan helped with a couple of items on Avery's list.  Avery had hoped to have someone write a song about her and record it, and that is exactly what Randy did.  "Avery's Song" is currently available to download for 99 cents on iTunes, Amazon, and CD Baby.  Half of each purchase goes toward crossing off another one of Avery's bucket list items: raising 1 million dollars for SMA research.  There is still no known cure for SMA, but it affects 1 in every 6000-10000 births.  I'm sure most of you, like me, had never heard of SMA prior to reading this blogpost (or previously reading about Avery), so any money towards research is huge.  So today, for my random act of kindness, I downloaded "Avery's Song" to help contribute to raise awareness and funds towards fighting SMA. 

This random act is very emotional for me because of my relationship with my daughter.  It has been hard for me to read and write about Avery without crying because it pains me to think of having to endure what Avery's parents had to endure.  I cannot imagine what The Canahuatis (or anyone who has lost a child) are going through.  To everyone out there with a child (or any loved one for that matter), take advantage of every opportunity that you have with them.  Don't let any petty crap get in the way of appreciating the time you have with the ones you love.  Kiss them, hug them, tell them you love them.