IronCody

To make a donation please CLICK HERE, you can also get caught up on what this blog is all about! 

Well I'm about 3 months out from what will be my year long endeavor to become an Ironman and in doing so raise as much money as I can for the NODCC. For those of you who might not know what an Ironman is or the NODCC I'll give you the readers digest version of each.

An Ironman is an individual that completes a race that consists of swimming 2.5 miles, then biking 112 miles, followed by running a marathon (26.2 miles). All three sports are completed in that order and you must finish in less than 17 hours.

The National Organization for Disorders of the Corpus Callosum (NODCC) is a nonprofit corporation established in 2002 by professionals, parents and individuals with a personal commitment to understanding corpus callosum disorders. Their mission is to to enhance the quality of life and promote opportunities for individuals with disorders of the corpus callosum and raise the profile, understanding and acceptance of these disorders through research, education, advocacy and networking.

Why the NODCC? Because my son Cody was born with Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum. Which means he is missing the part of the brain that connects the left and the right hemispheres. It largely affects his coordination, speech, and overall brain function. The NODCC was our only resource for explaining what Cody's disorder meant for him and us. They hold an annual conference that is open to anyone who wants to know more about the disorders of the corpus callosum. The topics range from, how it affects people and their lives who have it, to how to manage the schooling and financial aspects of raising a child with the disorder. We attended the conference in 2005 in Greenville, SC. We left with a much better picture of what raising Cody was going to be like and more importantly some of the things that we needed to do and not do. It was priceless.

Why Ironman? Well after Cody had finished his first neurological-psychological evaluation last year, the doctor, said that Cody works harder to just be normal and go through his day like all of us. I asked how much harder, she replied about 20 times harder. It's 20 times harder for him to walk, talk and play like any other kid.

I have been running triathlons for over 3 years now. I have completed several sprint triathlons (400 meter swim, 10 mile bike, 3.1 mile run), a handful of olympic distance races (1500 meter swim, 40 kilometer bike, 10 kilometer run), two half-ironman distance triathlons (1.25 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run) and the famous Escape from Alcatraz triathlon. All of those races were difficult and took a huge effort by me mentally and physically. However, none of those races are as difficult or challenging as Cody's day to day life. Cody is already an Ironman in my book. The least I can do as his father is attempt to meet the high standard he sets everyday at least once. Hopefully, 140.6 miles later, I can do that and in the process help the organization that has helped us and Cody.

I'm going to attempt to continue to blog about everything to do with this undertaking, setting up the donation site, my training, Cody's progress and of course the Ironman event. My goal is to continue to post a blog at least once a week, starting now and continueing through the race in November 2010.

Hopefully it will inspire some of you to donate or look for some other way to make a difference in someone else's life.

For more information on the NODCC go to www.nodcc.org, info on Ironman triathlons go to www.ironman.com

As this thing continues on I'll provide more info on the race and the charity.

The picture is of Quinn my oldest and Cody at the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon in San Francisco, CA. They are patiently waiting with donuts and chocolate milk for me to get out of the bay.

Thanks in advance for your support!!

Cale