| 1 | Boudousa Brain | 2819 |
| 2 | Shawn's Ironman | 1469 |
| 3 | Green Dot (Henry Tolstedt) | 1374 |
| 4 | Kona hopeful F16 pilot | 1051 |
| 5 | The Quadfather (Nick Tieney) | 768 |
| 6 | Isabella' Legacy | 457 |
| 7 | Happy Birthday Ironman | 385 |
| 8 | The Opportunity | 245 |
| 9 | I am a living proof..."Anything is possible" (Milan Dubravka) | 227 |
| 10 | Crash To Kona (TychoRiis Weiche) | 196 |
| 11 | A race for the women in my life | 154 |
| 12 | my biggest dream (Christian Schon) | 137 |
| 13 | Dean Kashlan Mantra (Dean Kashlan) | 131 |
| 14 | Operation Brain Tumor (Ted Pepenhagen II) | 125 |
In the past two days I have reached out to approximately 80 different awareness pages on Facebook to see if they would like their child's name place on the flag. If you combine their total reach, we could obtain over 450,000 votes if every person that liked their page would vote just once.
It may not reflect on the views, but I know that there is a positive reach to those that need to know about this. I will continue to reach out other pages to let them know about our efforts to spread awareness for birth defects. All of those that have replied are really excited to help, and they have shared on their page for their followers to vote for the video.
One specific correspondence really stood out to me today. They were so grateful for what we are doing, but they mentioned that they are really trying to get more research and that was something that I "can't" help with. If any of you that know me at all, that word immediately stood out to me, so I responded with a little encouragement:
If there is one thing that I have learned in the past four years since my son was born with his 1 in 35 million condition is the phrase "I can't" is not true. Shawn's conditions only been recorded 200 times ever and even in those cases, there was not one of them that was exactly like my baby Shawn.
We were told several times that Shawn's conditions were "sporadic" and could have never been predicted or fixed, but after a little determination from Shawn's doctor to find a solution and Shawn's resiliency to survive, we saw the phrase "I can't" turn into the phrase "I just did!"
That resilience and determination from Shawn is what spurred me to attempt my own impossible and go from that "Overweight Smoker" to an Ironman triathlete. Why? Well before my son was born, I always watched that event on TV and said, "I can't do that!" Since I had a change my attitude from "I can't" to "I Do", I decided to prove it while raising awareness and hope for families like yours. We started a research fund with Texas Children's Hospital (something we were told we couldn't do) to help research congenital anomalies, and I crossed the Ironman Texas finish line in May of last year.
Several people asked me to describe my attitude, and so I coined the mantra, "iDO!" in a blog posting. Here is what I said:
"I DO” is such a simple phrase but it is so powerful in so many ways. It is powerful enough to confirm the commitment to marriage and powerful enough confirm truth in a court of law. We live in a world of I Can’t and I Don’t. Some of us get inspired enough to go from the “I Can’t” to “I Can”, but never get around to doing anything to make that phrase “I DO!” The 1% of the world that has finished an Ironman triathlon, understands the phrase better than most. They don’t just not say there were going to do something, they do it. You don’t have to finish an Ironman to use this phrase. You can use it to follow through with any commitment whether to be to finish a race, lose a few pounds, volunteer to help the less fortunate, or just be a better person. I challenge you to change your life mantra to “I DO!"
Take the pledge with me:
iDO better myself
iDO better those around me
iDO encourage others that say iDO
iDO help those that are less fortunate
iDO test my boundaries
I tell you all of this because you said the phrase, "you can't". I know you did not mean harm in saying it, but the word "can't" is now the fuel that drives people that say, "iDO!" I encourage you to feel the same way when someone tells you you can't do something. The next time that happens, just look at them, smile, and say, "Wanna bet?" I will be right beside you to remind you that you can!
I will keep that commitment, and I ask you to keep the iDO! commitment as well by voting daily and sharing with all your friends. Thank all for your support!
Plan on seeing some new video to be released not "New Video Thursday", but in the meantime, have fun with this. I posted this when we made it to the semi-finals last year, but it is still relevant:
