Julia's Big Adventures

$57,148.44

Julia's Big Adventures; Bringing FUN to kids at Children's Minnesota!!

Hi, I’m Julia! When I was 5 years old, I became a patient of Children’s Minnesota. I was a healthy girl before that day in May 2011, when I suddenlyMore...

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Julia's Big Adventures; Bringing FUN to kids at Children's Minnesota!!

Hi, I’m Julia! When I was 5 years old, I became a patient of Children’s Minnesota. I was a healthy girl before that day in May 2011, when I suddenly became ill on Mother’s Day morning and began my stay in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in Minneapolis. Looking back, and hearing my mom tell others what it was like to see me in the hospital, I think it was probably more scary for my parents at the time than it was for me. I didn’t like being hooked up to all the various machines, and I didn’t like how I felt not being able to breathe on my own and have to lie in a bed for days because I was too weak to be up. After days of taking one test after another, we finally had a diagnosis of Viral Asthma. This is a rare form of asthma where viruses are the trigger. Most kids tend to outgrow this condition around age 10-12, but some, like me, take a little longer to become strong enough to resist viruses so that they don’t attack my respiratory system so aggressively. My last setback was in 2018 but I’ve been healthy and symptom free ever since!

As I became stronger during my stay at Children’s, I got to start doing some activities. Child Life Services specialists would visit me to play games, bring me toys and activities, and learn more about the things I liked. I missed being at home, mostly because I missed my cats, and CLS knew this so they brought a dog to me one day from their pet therapy program. I loved this so much because it helped me forget where I was for a moment! They also knew that I loved arts and crafts, so most of the things they brought to me were coloring activities, etc. These things were so fun for me, and my mom says it was like seeing her little girl again doing what I loved most!

I quickly got better and was able to go home in less than ten days. I had a very long recovery, though, and it took months for me to get back to myself, though I remained on various medications for the next eight years. I never forgot about my stay at Children’s, but I didn’t really talk about it after I left. That’s why it was such a surprise to my parents when my mom said two years later that we should do something for other people on Thanksgiving and I asked if we could go color with the patients. Shocked that I hadn’t forgotten about it, my mom asked what made me think of that. I told her that I felt really bad for all the patients that didn’t get to leave when I did. That was just something that really made me feel sad and I hadn’t been able to forget that feeling. So, we reached out to Children’s and asked about visiting patients to color with them. At the time, you had to be a volunteer to do this sort of thing and the volunteer age was 14. So, instead, I thought maybe we could give the patients coloring books and crayons. My mom thought that was a great idea and came up with a chore chart on a big whiteboard where different chores were listed with a dollar amount next to them. I got busy with it right away and kept the coins and bills in a jar that I’d decorated! Once our family and friends found out that I was doing this, they donated to help me buy coloring supplies. In 2013 at the age of 7, I began my fundraising journey by raising $467.50. We delivered the money on Thanksgiving, starting our annual tradition.

The following year, I was invited to visit with a specialist from Children’s foundation who wanted to know if I’d be interested in raising at least $1,000 each year for the next three years. I got all dressed up for the meeting, had hot chocolate while the adults had coffee, and signed a ‘contract’ promising to do so. I was so excited!! We discussed different ideas for raising money and I remember thinking I couldn’t wait to leave so we could get started!

In the next two years, I did a variety of things to raise money. I held a huge garage sale, helped take care of people’s pets, wrote letters to family and friends asking for donations, made videos to share on social media, and held restaurant fundraisers. Friends at Children’s helped to spread the word, too, by sharing my story in their newsletters and inviting me to visit Star Studio to be on their live-streamed shows. It didn’t take long before we realized that we had an opportunity to make this bigger and better than what we had previously done.

So, in 2016, Julia’s Big Adventures was born. I hosted my first annual walk/run event which turned out to be an unbelievable success! It started with me attending a city council meeting to ask for the use of one of the city’s parks to hold my event, which they were happy to let me do. Then I went to a local restaurant and asked the owners if they would like to sponsor my event and they accepted and did more than I could have ever imagined! Soon I was creating the logo for JBA and watching it be printed on t-shirts and other fun items to be given away at the event! I hosted my walk/run two more years after that and every time it grew by more people, more activities, more prizes, and more donations. It seemed like everywhere we went, my mom was talking to people about my fundraising and we made connections with some people that I still can’t believe to this day. Every year my sponsor list just kept growing!

In 2019, I made the decision to change-up my walk and do it with Children’s Walk for Amazing, rather than host my own event. I formed my own team and we walked through US Bank Stadium and we raised $5,600! It was so inspiring to be alongside other families who were walking in honor or in memory of loved ones who were Children’s patients. It was very different than the events I’d previously hosted, but had such a huge impact on me and my team.

When my mom, grandma and I went to pick up our packets for the walk, we had breakfast at the Original Pancake House. As we were leaving, a man asked what our shirts were for; we were wearing my Julia’s Big Adventures shirts. We briefly explained and handed him a JBA card, which turned out to be the best thing we could have done. He contacted us and offered to help me fundraise by putting on a pancake breakfast! So, that October, the GM of the Original Pancake House flipped pancakes at the restaurant of my very first sponsor who allowed us use of her kitchen and back dining hall where we held a pancake breakfast that was open to the community. It was an enormous success!!

Covid hit everyone hard in 2020. Ultimately, we decided not to host any events or push hard for fundraising that year due to the changes and struggles everyone was facing. Time passed and I eventually began high school, so JBA was temporarily set aside.

This year, however, I decided to make one last great effort for Julia’s Big Adventures before I graduate. Because we had already begun preparing for a 2020 event, we had brand new JBA goodies still tucked away in boxes. We knew they were doing no good sitting in boxes, so we decided to put together ‘JBA goodie bags’ and ask people to donate $30 per bag. The bags will go to patients while the money will go to Child Life Services to help fund their virtual toy drive.

I have had many remarkable opportunities and experiences over the years, from getting to be on the Youth Advisory Council since I was 10 years old, getting to be part of many shows at Star Studio, attending various sporting events and Children’s events, representing Children’s at the State Capitol, being interviewed by local TV stations, getting private tours of each department that my donations go to, and much, much more. Many times I feel like I have to pinch myself that these things are really happening for me. But, if Children’s hadn’t saved my life all those years ago, none of this would have ever been possible. My family and I are forever grateful.

What I’ve raised:

2013 - $467.50 (general fund)

2014 - $2,290.00 (pet therapy)

2015 - $3,122.25 (cancer patients)

2016 - $10,723.30 (Child Life Services)

2017 - $10,519.32 (Star Studio)

2018 - $11,257.46 (Transport Services)

2019 - $13,314.91 (Pain & Palliative Care)

2020/21/22 - $3,238.70 (Pain & Palliative Care)

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