Travis Bigham Benefit ~ Part I

This was the AMAZING committee

who planned, organized, put together,

met weekly and did an OUTSTANDING

job on the Travis Bigham Benefit

on April 16, 2011,

at the Hog Creek IceHouse. 

Some of these people are life long friends of

Lynna's and a few are new friends. 

Absolutely AMAZING people....

 

Putting on a benefit such as this

is a HUGE undertaking!!!

 A very special member of the

committee.........Garrett!!!

 I can take no credit for being on the

committee.  Just came to take pictures;)

These friends wanted a way to help

and boy did they EVER!!!

I did have to have a pic

with my new nephew though;)

 The night before the BIG event...

Superman pj's for ALL!!!

There was just SO MUCH that went

into this event.  I wish I could record

every single last thing that our

INCREDIBLE friends did to make this

such a HUGE success. 

There were sooooooooo many

people who donated money, time,

items for the auction and SO MUCH more

that I cannot even name!

One example, my dear friend/neighbor

Jeannie made these BEAUTIFUL

necklaces for the auction!

LOVE love LOVE them!!!!!!!!!

Several Superman websites

ran Trav's story and we received donations

and auction items from strangers

from ALL over.  Incredible!

April 16th finally arrived and
WHAT a DAY it was!

Turning into the parking lot,

this was the first thing you saw!!!!!!!

HUGE thanks to http://www.buildasign.com/!  :)

This was my little assistant

arriving with me (and the balloons!!!)...

I am still to this day overwhelmed when

I think back to that day and to the many,

many people who showed up. 

People whom I expected and people

whom I never dreamed would come.
The benefit was packed all.day.long!

PEOPLE ARE SO GOOD AND

KIND AND WONDERFUL!

God has reminded us of that

time and time and time again

throughout this journey.

My high school friend, Trey, and his

beautiful wife, Heather.  Couldn't

believe they showed up...

This is Jennifer and her son Ryan.

Jennifer and I became friends as a result of

Walker and Ryan becoming friends

in Pre-K.  She and her family have been

SO unbelievably faithful and kind to us.

Jennifer even ran her first half-marathon

in honor of Travis!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Walker loved it that Ryan was there!

My mother and some of her Sunday School

class friends.  Her entire class has been

WONDERFUL to Lynna, my mother, 

and all of us!  Amazing women.... 

Mr. V!!!!  Our seventh grade English teacher

and my dear, dear friend and daily

e-mailing buddy.  How awesome

that he stopped by to give us hugs

and make a donation!!!

THEN, the STAR arrived.............

SUPERMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He was greeted by just a few;)

Zeb, his former boss:)

A proud and beautiful mama!

They had driven in from Dallas.

The benefit started at noon and they got

there around 1:00 to a parking lot

ALREADY full of cars!!!!!!!!

The first band introduced Trav's arrival....

I don't think there were many dry eyes!

Most people really hadn't seen Travis

since before his accident almost

nine months earlier.....

Scott, Lynna and the assistants with him

took him to the middle of the dance floor...

Then they helped Travis

STAND UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is what a miracle from God

looks like in real life!!!:)

Nine months earlier, we were told that

Travis would most likely never wake up.

If he did, he would be a vegetable.

THIS IS A MIRACLE.

God hears our prayers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone wanted to come up and

talk to our Superman.

He was SO incredibly gracious

and kind to each and every person.

Nodding his head all day long

and giving many, many

THUMBS UP!!!!!

Aunt Kitty & Cousin Mical

Trav's gorgeous friends...

they were in RED benefit shirts

because they were helping!

Trav had one very special little fan......

As usual, they melted our hearts....

Handsome and Sweet Brothers...

These are two guys who LOVE their mama!

Nicole is Trav's occupational therapist

at CNS.  She has taken such an

interest in Travis and came on her own

will to help out that day!!!

Linda is our very favorite residential

assistant from CNS.  An angel to us!

Laughing at Aunt Michelle:)

The Dustins!  Great friends....

Travis was so relaxed and content

ALL DAY LONG! 

Such a HAPPY event!!!!!!!!!!!

Garrett giving Trav a hard time;)

Oh these two!!!  LOVE them!

The support is truly UNBELIEVABLE!!!

Trish...Lynna's long time b/f/f

and like another mama to Travis!

So many amazing new friends to me,

old friends to my sisters and family, new

friends to them, strangers.......

just allllllllllllll amazing.

My parents' neighbors...

Two VERY special SUPER babies................

...and their family.  Couldn't have made it

through all of this without my Kelli G!
 I can't say much more than that.
Could.not.have.made.it.without.her.
She has cried over this with me more than any
other friend in my life...still to this day.

Wendell got Travis NEW boots!!!

Travis holding the babies....

I ADORE this picture of Travis

with Hank & Ella!!!
Dear Lord, please heal Travis

and allow him to someday

experience being a father!!!

I would give anything for that!

Kate and Mary with their face paintings!!!

Shirley, Robin and some sweet students

from MHS did the face painting.  :)

Such a great pic of

PaPa and Travis...

to say this has been hard on my dad

would be the biggest understatement

ever.  God bless his heart.  :(

Walker's AMAZING teacher, Mrs. Donahoo,

and her daughters.  Walker was actually

at his baseball game when they came.

SO, they came back later just to see him.

Just unbelievable.  His other teacher

and her family came, too.  WOW.

This was a REAL tear jerker...

the TEXAS NA NA's came!!!!!!!

From Dallas, Austin and San Antonio...

the best friends in the world!!!

When I got there that morning, one of the volunteers

told me that there had been a mistake

and a spiderman pinata and jumper

had been delivered.  The guy was like

that's okay, right?!?

UHHHHHH....NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We were able to correct the jumper,

but not the pinata!

Made for a good laugh!!!:)

This was one of the AWESOME nurses

from Hillcrest ICU.  When I introduced

her to Travis, he immediately gave

her the thumbs up on his very own.
  Again, WOW.

Our two miracles..............

Sweet, beautiful Alyssa.

Love her like our own now!:)

This is my dear and beautiful roommate

from my freshman & sophomore
years at Baylor,

Alison and her PRECIOUS family.

Alison is a TRUE and FAITHFUL

friend.  I love her dearly.

They drove from Austin to

spend the entire day at the benefit

with us.  She's incredible........

Alison is the REAL deal.

Grandmother doing one of

Trav's famous expressions!;)

Grandmother and her two oldest....

Macy & Travis!

Aunt Kitty & Uncle Ron....

could NOT have EVER made it without

their generous, loving and

incredible support. 

My beautiful Robin working at the benefit!!!;)

Erica and Angie...two sweet, beautiful

and wonderful friends of mine from church.

I love them SO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is Lori...she is the head

trauma nurse at Hillcrest ICU.

She was a ROCK for us

those first couple of weeks.

The Texas NaNa's with their Petits!

Having these girls there brought me such

comfort...also knowing that Kimberly,

Kelli and Kaye were there in spirit

from ALL over the world

did, too!!!  Kim even paid for her tickets

even though she was in Australia;)))

Sweet, incredible, beautiful Heather...

my loving friend from high school

and who kept Hadlee for me for

two years.  She's one of my soul

sisters.  Quite possibly the most

kind hearted person I know.

Another UNBELIEVABLE
and FAITHFUL source of

support from the very, very beginning.

So famous.....

So loved...............

Sweet Lauren and her friends!!!

These young ladies are SO very

supportive and kind!

So good at heart at such an early

age!  I love me some LaLa!!!!!!!!

My beautiful Robin with the girls.............

where do I ever, ever find the words?

Truly an angel in our lives.

No wonder Lauren has the heart she does. 

Haddie was most happy to see

Mrs. Heather that day!!!

Travis getting to sit at a table and

visit with his friends all day long
was the BEST therapy EVER!

Hunter just had to go and challenge

a few of us to some races...........
after he beat ME, he took on Kelli G!

So, then I took on the loser:)

It wasn't pretty:))))

Next up was Robin....

Hunter took her down, too;)

So, we decided to get Heather's husband Brett...

As you can see in this action shot,

Hunter B could NOT be beat!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The SUPER Fabulous FARNUM FIVE!!!!!!!

Aunt Mindy:))))

I'm one lucky blessed woman to have

loved this guy since he was born when

I was 13 years old AND even better
to be loved by him.  :)
  He's been my nephew, my son,
my student, my friend.......
my very first true love. 

More BENEFIT pictures coming up!
Over $35,000 was raised.........
God is always at work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!