Happy Birthday MikeyD !

Mighty MikeyD went back to CHOP last week for his check up with Dr. Vetter and some testing of his defibrillator and pace maker. MikeyD's Defibrillator had no activity on it which is good. MikeyD does have some damage to the left ventricular from the Sudden Cardiac Arrest one of the valves has a slight leak, Dr.Vetter will follow it closely to see if it gets worse. The big scar on his chest is looking better. While we were at CHOP we met Dr. Iyer he is the surgeon who installed the built in defibrillator in MikeyD heart. The last time Dr. Iyer had seen MikeyD he was paralyzed in a wheel chair and could not talk. He had read all the neurological reports that said he would never have the use of his hands or arms. When Dr. Iyer walked in the exam room MikeyD gave him a strong firm handshake you could see the doctors face light up. When we were leaving Dr.Iyer came over to me and said I cannot believe he is using his hands and arms he was truly amazed.

This Wednesday January 15^th was MikeyD’s Birthday.

We thank God every day that he is still here with us.

MikeyD had a great surprise visit for his Birthday.

The whole Middletown High School North Basketball team and coaches came to the house to celebrate MikeyD’s Birthday! They gave him the best present he could ever get.

That meant more to MikeyD and my family than they will ever know. Coach Mark use to coach MikeyD and I could tell by the smile how happy he was to see Coach Mark again. We would like to thank all the players the coaches and the Cerbo family for all that they have done for MikeyD that night. You guys have no idea how happy you made him.

We will be forever grateful.

Then on Saturday MikeyD had another big celebration with Family and friends.

Everyone can wish MikeyD a Happy Birthday right here and we will read them to him.

For those of you that have not seen the video Ciara made for her brother here is the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILtoyif_FrU

Remember We Believe in Miracles !

Please keep praying and posting for MikeyD.

Sunday night December 22nd Merry Christmas to all of you !

 The Christmas Miracle continues. Mighty MikeyD the Miracle in sneakers has come a long way in the past year and he still has a long way to go. This time last year he was getting ready to come home from the Hospital in his new wheelchair. We are sad that he is still in the Children’s Specialized Hospital as an outpatient and not back at Bayshore with his friends, however we know it is the best place for him to be right now at this crucial stage of his recovery. We are Happy and Blessed that he is still with us. We know that MikeyD has been to Heaven and back at his young age he told Moya all about it but that is a story for another day. A friend of ours had taken their daughter to CHOP for some testing when they were there they said to the doctor the reason we came here was because you saved MikeyD. The doctor said oh you know MikeyD and they said yes. The doctor said we did not save MikeyD that was an intervention from a higher power. They said an Angel came down from Heaven and saved MikeyD. We read through the Postings from last Christmas the other night it is some great powerful Christmas reading for all of us. All those posts from all of you last Christmas helped us through this past year. As we look back and reflect over the year that has gone we are thankful for all of you and your prayers and support for our family.  From all the Doherty family to all of you and your families we wish you and yours a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy Healthy New Year !!!

Click the link below to watch a Recovery video that Ciara made for MikeyD

She did a great job. You can see his recovery from the early stages when he was learning how to walk again to the present. Thank you Ciara.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILtoyif_FrU

Keep the faith.. We believe in Miracles !

please keep praying and posting for MikeyD

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you !

Mighty MikeyD the Middletown  Miracle in sneakers has gone from being in a wheelchair with both his legs in casts barely able to speak and hardly able to use his arms  last thanksgiving to  walking around smiling at everyone he meets. Even though MikeyD still has a long way to go we are Thankful to God and all of you that he has come back this far with the help of all your prayers and support. We Cannot thank all of you enough. The MikeyD 3 on 3 was a great event and a great day for MikeyD you can see him with all his classmates in the picture above. MikeyD even handed out the trophies to the winners of the tournament . We could tell he was so happy to be back at Bayshore by the smile on his face  and when we got home that night he asked me dad when will I be going back to Bayshore. I only wish I could of given him an answer . We are hoping and praying that he will be able to return to Bayshore sometime next year. Yesterday some of the Baseball players from Kean University came to the hospital to see mighty MikeyD and they presented him with a team baseball uniform and a real nice Nike wind breaker they made his day.

MikeyD has  saved a few lives already and will continue to do so we are having the CHOP Medical team come to Saint Mary's on April 26th the Mighty MikeyD Heart screening will be free to all children in Middle and High School grades. I wish we could of had it sooner but scheduling was tough and I needed some time for the fund raising to pay for the screening, Please help me spread the word for the screening to all Children not just Middletown but children from any town in the area that can make it are welcome. Dr. Vetter said we do not want people to sign up too early because they forget about it. We will have an on line sign up we will post it on the blog as we get closer. I also need some nurses if you know any Nurse Fran from Bayshore is going to help us and we will also need some Admin Volunteers if you can help us please let me know. I really appreciate it. Thank you all again for everything especially Praying and posting your kind words of support here for MikeyD.

Please remember MikeyD in your prayers on this Thanksgiving As Well.

We wish all of you and your families a Happy, Healthy and Blessed Thanksgiving from all the Doherty’s 

Help Me Thanksgiving Day Prayer

O God, when I have food,
help me to remember the hungry;
When I have work,
help me to remember the jobless;
When I have a home,
help me to remember those who have no home at all;
When I am without pain,
help me to remember those who suffer,
And remembering,
help me to destroy my complacency;
bestir my compassion,
and be concerned enough to help
By word and deed,
those who cry out for what we take for granted.

Amen.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Thursday Night October 24th

Mighty MikeyD the Miracle in Sneakers continues every day to fight the good fight. He never ever gives up.

He fights hard every day to get better. He tries every day to tie his own shoes and even though he can't do it yet he tries again and again day after day. Most people would give up by now not MikeyD. He is a little boy with Big Courage! He struggles everyday with little things from the traumatic brain injury but yet he never complains. he is trying to learn real hard how to read and write again. his long term memory is getting better but his short term memory is a real battle. We were hoping that MikeyD would be returning to Bayshore sometime after Thanksgiving but unfortunately  the hospital said he is not ready to leave anytime soon. MikeyD had a great surprise visit his grandmother Bridie, his Aunt Mauve and cousin Adrienne came from Ireland to pay him a surprise visit he was in Ireland with them just a few days before that night of September 7^th, that was the last time they had seen him it was great for all of us to see them.Then this Sunday after mass was great for MikeyD  Father Carlos came over to him and gave him a big five minute hug he held MikeyD and said you are a true walking miracle my son. It was great for us to see the smile on MikeyD and father Carlos faces. Father Carlos use to call me all the time when we were in CHOP. November 6^th the great people of Bayshore School are having the annual MikeyD 3 ON 3 Basketball Tournament we are all looking forward to that.

It means a lot to everyone in my family. Thank You everyone at Bayhore for remembering MikeyD ! I would also like to let everyone know about a free CPR training offered by Janet Fund that will be held right here in Colts Neck at the Team Life office.

Team Life does CPR and AED training they also sell Cardiac Science portable AED’s which are the best on the market.

Janet was MikeyD’s age when she suffered a Sudden Cardiac arrest while Cheerleading and unfortunately she did not make it.

Janet’s family is offering this from her foundation.

Please pass this along to everyone that you can. The more of us that are trained to save lives the better. I did it believe me it is not hard you will be surprised. It is next Tuesday October 29^th at 6PM

291 Route 34 Colts Neck                     The Janet Fund is proud to offer its first ever free CPR class in Colts Neck.  We have partnered with Team life to bring you this great event and hope that you will take advantage of the opportunity to learn how to save a life.

Space is very limited so please sign up early.  Remember that in order to bring you these free trainings, it is very important that once you sign up, you attend.  When people sign up and fail to attend it takes away a spot from someone else.

Please make sure you can attend before you register.  

To register please click the link. Register Now!

We believe in Miracles !!!

Please keep praying and posting for MikeyD

Sunday September 29th MikeyD's first Birthday !

Mighty MikeyD  now has two Birthday’s September 7th and January 15th . He celebrated his first Birthday of his new life on September 7th. The day in which he was born again. The celebration started Friday night at the healing mass at St. Mary’s where father Jeff prayed over him and spoke about the Miracle of MikeyD who last September 7th he  was in a coma  woke up three weeks later and was paralyzed and could not speak. Everyone said his upper body would be paralyzed for the rest of his life and he would never use his hands or arms again, The parish of St. Mary’s held a hearing mass where everyone gathered to pray for the little boy. The story about little MikeyD spread and before you knew it all the churches in Middletown and many other churches   from Ireland to Hawaii and other parts of the world were all praying for a miracle for this little 12 year old boy !

We believe this was a major part of his healing Matthew 18-19.Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or more are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

MikeyD is now using his hands and arms a true miracle.

MikeyD has started CCD and will make his Confirmation next May with his cousin Brendan and many other friends thanks to Peggy Dunne.

We then celebrated MikeyD's new Birthday on Saturday with a party with a bunch of family and friends. We had a great wiffle ball game and big party it really made his day. Thank you everyone for coming.

Moya and I had to go to a family meeting last Friday at the Children’s specialized Hospital in Mountainside to meet with the doctors, therapist and teachers. We were very happy and proud to hear the reports first of all how they all love MikeyD and said he is a pleasure to be with every day and how good and kind he is to everyone he meets and that he walks around with a smile on his face. They said he is trying very hard and making progress every day. MikeyD still can’t write or tie his shoes but he is starting to read a little bit. We believe he will keep coming back. The Mighty MikeyD heart screening will be in February I will have an exact date soon and will let everyone know. The Screening will be open to all kids not just kids in Middletown and not just kids on school sports teams a lot of kids play on Rec and travel teams which has nothing to do with school. I am building a team of people who are helping me put this screening together  like Jim Curti from St.Mary’s basketball Peggy Dunne from St.Mary’s CCD, Barbara Cassin,  Jim Dolan from Monmouth Beach his  son Jimmy is also a SCA survivor and Mark Peter’s from Cardiac Science who is also an SCA survivor. Both Jimmy and Mark were very lucky to have a quick response from first responders and have an AED available within a few minutes unlike little MikeyD so they have no Brain Damage. Mark and I had lunch the other day and we were speaking about the miracle of MikeyD I told him the main goal of my family right now is to get little MikeyD better. Mark lost his best friend who was playing basketball like MikeyD to SCA. Mark believes as we do that God sent the Miracle MikeyD back to us so that he can go around when he gets better and save the lives of many other young children. I would like to share Mark’s Story with you here.

Hi! My name is Mark -

I am the AED Specialist with Cardiac Science, covering New Jersey, New York City, and Long Island. I am extremely passionate about my journey - (Notice that I did not say career!) - and I would like to tell you why...

When I was fifteen, I lost my childhood friend - Gregory Moyer - to sudden cardiac arrest.
(Please visit Greg's website: http://www.GregAED.org)

It was halftime of his basketball game when he had his event. There was no AED there and the ambulance did not respond in time. In fact, the average EMS response time is twelve minutes! 

He was one of twelve thousand school-aged children that year who died of sudden cardiac arrest that year. Did you know that every year, cardiac arrest remains the number one killer in the United States? It claims the lives of over 12,000 school-aged children annually!

Believe it or not, my personal experience does not end there.

On February 26th, 2009 - and in my previous life as a personal trainer - I had my own event and went into sudden cardiac arrest in a gym outside of Philadelphia. Thanks to quick action, off-duty paramedics, and defibrillation - I was given a second chance at life.

I've made it my lifelong goal to ensure that there are no more Gregory Moyers.
I want to give people a second chance at life, just as I was granted another shot.

If I can be of any help to you for anything related to defibrillation, or if you have any specific questions about AEDs, Laws in your area, and the Regulations for having a life-saving device - please ask. 

Live for a Passion! ... and Let the Beat Go On!

Mark and Jimmy Dolan  will be with us at the Mighty MikeyD Heart screening you can meet them there.

October is National Sudden Cardiac Awareness Month!

We Believe in Miracles !!!

Please keep praying and posting for MikeyD !!!

.

Labor Day Updated for screening

It is hard to believe this time last year Mighty MikeyD was a Happy healthy 12 year old boy. We had just came back from our vacation in Ireland. For Moya Julia, Ciara, MikeyD and myself our lives could not have been better. Little did we know a few days later our lives would change forever. None of us will ever be the same. MikeyD was looking forward to returning to Bayshore as a 7th grader and starting back to sports as usual. He left as a 6^th grader and has never returned.  We had just picked up his fall baseball uniform and basketball practice had just started up again. He was back from vacation doing all the things he loved to do play sports with his friends. We still cannot believe we are only a few days away from that very hot humid tragic  Friday night of September 7th one year ago when little MikeyD went down on the basketball court. The Miracle in sneakers has come a long way since that night. We believe it was from all the prayers and support from all of you our family, friends, prayer warriors and the great Middletown community. Thank God Julia and Ciara are his guardian Angels they are so good to him.

 MikeyD   still has long way to go and  needs all the prayers and support he can get. Next Friday night September 6th at 8 PM we will be taking MikeyD to the healing mass at St. Mary’s where so many of you prayed for MikeyD last year which we know  healed a little boy who was paralyzed and could not talk for months. I hope you can join us at the mass on Friday night. None of us will ever know why MikeyD had to go through this, but  everyone around him knows that the Lord has a reason that will be revealed to us one day. Also I was speaking to Dr.Vetter regarding the MikeyD screening that we will be bringing to Middletown to screen all the kids we can screen for heart and dehydration problems. She told me to see if we had any nurses or technicians that can help us. This will keep the cost down for the funds we need to raise. If any of you know a nurse or a technician who would be willing to volunteer their time at the screening please let me know. On Saturday  afternoon September 7th which will be the one year anniversary from that tragic night we are planning a wiffle ball game for MikeyD since he can no longer play team sports which he misses it makes him feel good to have some friends around and play a little game we had a few games before and it was great. we played parents against the kids one day and that was great. I wish I had more time we could of had a little tournament. We are hoping we can have a few games on Saturday please let us know if you can join us to help MikeyD the more the better. The Doherty family would like to thank each and every one of you for all your prayers and support ! We could  never  made it this far without all of you. A great community that we are proud to be a part of. The green ribbons are still standing strong in our neighborhood they have survived the worst hurricane we have ever seen just another symbol. Dear God please let MikeyD keep coming back to us.

***Mary had a few good questions***

the Screening will be sometime in January or February as soon I have the exact date I will let everyone know ASAP.

The nurses will just need to do the Blood pressure.

The Techs we need are ECG and Echocardiogram techs.

If not CHOP will provide.

The wiffle ball game for MikeyD recovery Celebration will be Saturday at our house 3 pm we will make MAC n Cheese for the kids with hot dogs on the grill.

Hope to see you then.

We believe in Miracles !!!

Please keep praying and posting for MikeyD !!!

Thursday Night August 15th

Mighty MikeyD went back to CHOP last week for his check up with Dr. Vetter and some testing of his defibrillator and pace maker. MikeyD went through a stress test as well, Thank God everything checked out great. Mikeyd passed the stress test his heart is perfect all the damge to the left ventical from the Sudden Cardiac Arrest is healing, MikeyD's Defibrillator had no activity his little heart is healing almost as if it had never stopped beating. Little MikeyD's heart was damaged from the SCA. The big scar on his chest is looking better. It is hard to believe we are approaching the 1st anniversary of that tragic night when he was playing basketball and went down on the court. Dr Vetter said MikeyD is still dehydrated and needs to have at least 10 glasses of water  a day or a mix of water, Gatorade, or some other fluid.  Today is Dr. Vetter's Birthday. Happy Birthday from all of us I know you enjoy reading the blog. I spoke to Dr. Vetter about coming to Middletown to screen the kids she agreed. we are organizing it now unfortunately it will take us six months to plan it out there is a lot involved. We will be offering screenings to all kids in the middle school and high schools not just athletes but all kids.

Imagine if we save just one kid and one family from this tragedy ? I know we will save more than one but even just one is a major victory. I do not want one more child or their family to suffer from SCA ever again. The MikeyD recovery fund is also working on getting AED’s all over Middletown especially at outdoor sporting events to make Middletown safer for everyone especially our children of Middletown. 

Can you be sure an emergency rescue worker will always be three minutes away?
Sure enough to risk your life on it?
 the only chance a sudden cardiac arrest victim has for resuscitation is a shock from a defibrillator as soon as possible. According to the AHA (American Heart Association), defibrillation should be administered within the first three minutes of cardiac arrest. 

We all know the Mighty MikeyD story !!!

But he is a true Miracle one of the only known survivors after being down so long. All the Doctors say he is a very strong young boy.

Let’s all work together to help spread the word of the Mighty MikeyD Heart screening from CHOP coming to Middletown to help save all our children.

Right now it looks like it will be sometime in February I will keep you posted.

Please send the link to this blog to everyone you know with children the more we reach the better. I am hoping we can screen at least 500 kids. We had 141,000.00 hits since I posted 2 weeks ago. Let me know if you are interested in helping me to the spread the word for the screenings.

MIkeyD is getting stronger every week but he misses the interaction and friendship of playing sports on teams like he use to do so we are going to plan some more wiffle ball games in the fall.

MikeyD also misses being at Bayshore with his old friends.

Please pray that MikeyD will one day leave the Children’s hospital and return to Middletown and go back to Bayshore with friends where he belongs.

We Believe in Miracles !

Please keep praying and posting for MikeyD.