Brianna entered a county wide art contest hosted by the Franklin County Auditors office called ‘Me and My Pal‘. Â She had to draw a picture of her and a dog she cares for; the purpose of the contest is to help promote responsible dog ownership. She won for 2nd grade!
They hosted the awards ceremony on Saturday and she was thrilled! The original drawing was much smaller, but they blew up all of the kids pictures, which she got to take home along with some other gifts.
Plus, she received a free dog license for Buddy (which saved the Bernards $18:) so the girl is already a paid artist!
Six months after the idea popped into her head, Karen achieved her goal of running the Columbus Marathon on Sunday (photo gallery).
Brianna and Karen picked Jack up at the airport on Saturday and we immediately headed to the Columbus Marathon Kid’s run. Along the drive, Brianna read Jack her short story “Miller”. It was pouring rain, but Brianna headed right out and ran her race.
After the run, we headed to Brianna’s house and Jack got to meet Buddy.
Buddy likes Brianna:
Jack presented Brianna with the finisher medal for our Boston Marathon effort.
Nanny and Papa and Aunt Pat arrived after driving crazy distances to be there for the big weekend. Brianna read “Miller” for the group, a true story about a visit to see Miller the barn cat, and Luvit the horse, that Brianna wrote:
Karen Prior-Bernard When physical motivation lags, Karen Prior-Bernard considers her smart, spunky daughter.
“Whenever you sit there on the couch going, ‘I don’t want to get up; I don’t want to go run,’ I think of her,†said the 36-year-old Gahanna resident, who will run her first marathon in support of her only child, Brianna.
“We take it for granted, the ability to move.â€
Brianna, 5, has hereditary spastic paraplegia, a condition that weakens her legs and shares some characteristics with multiple sclerosis and Lou Gehrig’s disease. Her diagnosis is untreatable but not expected to worsen.
Although Brianna can walk short distances unassisted, her knees and toes turn inward. She relies at times on a walker known as “the green machine†and continues with physical therapy.
When she falls, she gets back up quickly. A few weeks ago, the kindergartner decided to give a short speech to her peers so they could better understand her ailment.
Still, “we make sure this doesn’t define her,†said Brianna’s dad, Allen Bernard, 49. “We don’t say, ‘I can’t.’ â€
Besides her daughter, Prior-Bernard was also inspired to train by her brother, Jack Prior — a runner and Newton, Mass., resident who in April was just minutes from the Boston Marathon finish line when two bombs exploded.
Prior was running in Brianna’s honor as part of a rare-diseases fundraising team supported by his employer, a biotech company. He’ll participate in the half-marathon in Columbus.
Prior-Bernard, meanwhile, has been working to raise $100 for each mile of the full marathon to benefit the Spastic Paraplegia Foundation (via www.razoo.com/story/running-for-brianna).
Come Sunday, Brianna will lead the family cheering squad.
“I’m making a sign; it’s going to say ‘Go, Mama,’ †she said. “I’m going to say: ‘I love you, Mama! Go! Go! Go!’ â€
Jack and Karen got up early and jogged a mile to the marathon start for good measure to add to the day’s planned 26.2 (for Karen). As Brianna would say “Uncle Jack is only doing the ‘Half’, Mama is doing the ‘Full’.”
Jack finished early:
24 miles later, Karen still looked great:
Some very excited sisters were there to greet her at the final bend:
Karen had a great race, running a steady 10:45/mile pace for a 4:46:37 finish. There is still more work to do, as one lesson Karen apparently missed was on finishing (video). Clearly there was a bit of energy left in the tank.
Somebody was very proud of her mama.
Karen raised $3157 on razoo.com for Herditary Spastic Paraplegia as part of her marathon effort!
I hope this note finds you all well after the first of the holidays is now past. We had a great day relaxing with mom and a few friends. We had turkey and all the fixin’s per Brianna’s request since she’s been studying Thanksgiving in school this fall – lots of hand turkeys on the frig!
I am also happy to say that this is the e-mail everyone’s been waiting and hoping for: a few weeks ago, right around Halloween, Brianna started walking!
As you can imagine we are very excited by this development. She is able to traverse short distances – from the door to the couch, across the kitchen or her playroom – in balanced and steady steps. This is real walking; not just controlled falling as she has done in the past. She is even able to skip a little as she goes by. She walks a little bit every day but we are careful not to push too hard lest she get injured again like in March.
It’s for this reason we’ve been holding off on sending out this note. We didn’t want to raise expectations only to see her new abilities come and go because of an injury or other factors. Her physical therapists (she has two) started her on forearm crutches this week and are very encouraged by her ability to grasp the concept of using her arms and legs together in a coordinated fashion.
As you’ll see in the video, she still has issues with spasticity bending her legs in ways that don’t promote a typical gate pattern but we have started Botox injections in calf muscles that should help alleviate some of this.
Every parent cherishes their child’s first steps (we just had to wait a little longer than most) so this is a major milestone for Karen and I, but mostly for Brianna. She no longer has to say she can’t walk because she can! Where this all leads as far as future ability goes is anyone’s guess but it is a great start. The younger she starts the farther she will be able to go since her body won’t stop developing for a long time.
Well, that about it for now. Everything else we have going on like painting the bedroom and getting ready for Christmas, etc. kind of pales in comparison to this news.
So, until we see you again, we hope that everyone has a great day and an even better Christmas!
Love to you all,
Allen, Karen & Brianna
PS – Brianna wanted to add something to this note so I put my journalism skills to work to quote her directly: “I love you so much Nanny and Papa. Bye.”
PPS – Click on the link (not the image) for better quality video (we’ve been trying for days to shoot a better one but someone’s 3 and 1/2!)
My favorite video of the year came in from Karen back on June 9th: “Here’s Brianna with her new walker that she just got today. She has had limited use with one in PT, but she is already doing pretty good.”
