Action 4 Ashton has a new photo! It was taken on August 9 but a month later I am finally getting around to adding it to Ashton’s home page lol. This was taken during our second trip to Iowa City using the mirror in our hotel room. I think it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself:). I like how the lighting or shadows kind of outline Ashton’s face.

Ashton had two full days of appointments during both of his first two trips to the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital. While I was sitting in the waiting room of the Clinical Research Unit one of the nurses who helped with Ashton’s blood draws stopped to tell me that she liked that we were wearing matching shirts. I told her that lime green was the awareness color for muscular dystrophy and that Ashton had Duchenne, the most severe kind.

Yes, our shirts do coordinate quite well and our wearing them the same day was on purpose. We also wore them for his first day of appointments during our first trip to Iowa. My shirt says “Never Give Up HOPE” with a butterfly and an outline of a heart. I call this my Duchenne shirt and I got it for the first annual Muscle Walk of Central Wisconsin last fall. I picked it out and love it because I believe that hope is an important part of life regardless of your circumstances. I frequently wear this shirt when I am visiting my dad, he seems to like it and always reads it out load and talks about hope when I do.

Ashton’s shirt is perfect for him. It says “ALIVE AND KICKING” and has a bit of a soccer ball pattern on it. Ashton is physically unable to play soccer but being permanently disabled with a progressive muscle wasting illness does not keep him down!! He is alive and kicking!