Emily’s Path was touched by the story of another “Emily,” a 15-year-old recovering from a heart transplant.  Emily has also battled cancer during her childhood.  Despite circumstances that would lead many people to have a “poor me” attitude, Emily has channeled her energy into helping others.  She is a passionate supporter of her local food pantry, frequently volunteering her time and working alongside her grandmother.  Emily also initiated a fundraising campaign that has raised thousands of dollars for the pediatric cancer unit of a local hospital.  After her heart transplant, Emily was home-bound for quite some time, while she recuperated.  After discovering that movies and art are two of her favorite past-times, Emily’s Path gave Emily gift cards for a local movie store and an art supply store in order to maker her recovery a happier experience.

Will was a healthy, active infant.  When he was just 10 months old, Will’s aunt found him in his crib, not breathing.  It was the morning after Christmas.  Will had gotten into a family member’s blood pressure medication.  Quick actions by his mom and aunt saved Will’s life, but he suffered permanent brain damage.  Will can no longer talk, walk, crawl, roll, or reach, although  he still laughs and smiles!   While the therapy is helping, his parents are hopeful that stem cell therapy may reverse Will’s brain loss.  Will has now had two stem cell transplants in Germany.  Stem cells were extracted from Will’s bone marrow and injected into his nervous system in the hope that they “will regenerate and replicate and turn into functioning brain cells,” said Will’s pediatric neurologist, Dr. Roshan Raja.  Future stem cell treatments will take place here in the U.S.  However, insurance does not cover the cost of these procedures.  To date, Emily’s Path has raised nearly $18,000 to help pay for Will’s treatment.

The Smile Train is a charitable organization that provides free cleft lip and cleft palate surgery to poor children in developing countries.  Clefts are a major problem in developing countries where there are millions of children who are suffering with unrepaired clefts. Most cannot eat or speak properly. They aren’t allowed to attend school or hold a job and face very difficult lives filled with shame and isolation, pain and heartache.  Their clefts usually go untreated because they are poor – too poor to pay for a simple surgery that has been around for decades.  The Smile Train transforms children’s lives with surgery that costs as little as $250 and takes as little as 45 minutes.  Because The Smile Train was one of Emily’s favorite charities, Emily’s Path continues to support the organization in her name.  Together, Emily and Emily’s Path have provided cleft surgery for 8 children.

When Caylee was 12, her father lost his job.  For nearly a year, he searched for employment.  Finally, desperate to support his family, Caylee’s father was forced to accept a job in Kuwait.  Emily’s Path stepped in and provided the funds necessary for Caylee to go to a week-long summer camp with a friend the week after her father left, easing the difficult transition.  Caylee’s father is still in Kuwait, and visits home are a rare luxury.  He hopes that, in time, his U.S. employer will have a position for him back home.

Each week, a group of central-Wisconsin mothers and their children meet for a playdate.  Unlike typical playgroups, however, all of the children in this playgroup have special needs such as sight or hearing impairment, autism, cerebral palsy, delayed development, speech difficulties, chronic illness or genetic disorders.  Emily’s Path provided the funds necessary to purchase therapeutic toys for this special group of children, bringing smiles to the children and mothers alike.

The evening before Thanksgiving, 2009, Nicholas and Anna’s father was seriously injured in a car crash.  He remained hospitalized for several weeks.  While such a tragedy is never easy on a family, dealing with such emotional, physical and financial stress during the holiday season is even more challenging.  Emily’s Path provided funds to Nicholas and Anna’s parents to purchase Christmas gifts for the children — a bright spot in what was otherwise a very difficult holiday for them.