Taylor Vander Jeugdt

Dear Racing For Cancer;

I can’t express enough to you for what your foundation has done for our family. It was literally a dream come true for our children. My husband and I don’t even know where to start to say “Thank you” for this once in a lifetime amazing experience that our family shared on June 16th, 2012 in Milwaukee.

Every week, Taylor attends the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin for his Aplastic Anemia. On June 14th Taylor’s clinic day was not the typical clinic experience. As we were on our way leaving from the BMT clinic, we came upon several “Indy “race car drivers. While waiting for our car, we were asked if we wanted to attend one of the biggest races occurring in Milwaukee that weekend. We were asked to be the representative family for “Racing For Cancer”. Not knowing what to expect as we had very little knowledge of the racing world, our perspective had changed dramatically from not being “avid” race car fans to not being able to wait to watch the next Indy car race on television and cheering on the Indy car drivers that we had met that day.

At the Milwaukee Mile, we met Natalie, who was our hostess from Racing For Cancer, for the day. She greeted us with a huge warm smile and showered our children with gifts and the whole “ROYAL TREAMENT” had started. Every minute of the day kept us and the children occupied and intrigued about what goes on in the racing world, from behind the scenes to meeting the driver’s crew to the actual drivers. Natalie made sure that this wasn’t just Taylor’s special day, but the “WHOLE” family was having a remarkable day. Everyone that we met, especially the Andretti Autosport team, was so kind and warm and took the time from their busy schedule to make “Taylor” and the rest of the family feel important. Racing For Cancer went above and beyond in making our family feel as important as the drivers. From the wonderful meals, to signing autographs, and allowing us to take pictures non-stop with each driver was an incredible experience that will never be forgotten. I have never seen my children sit still for more than 30 minutes at a time. But as soon as the race started, it had kept all three of them enthralled with the anticipation of who was going to be the next 2012 Milwaukee Mile winner. The perfect ending of our day was when the winner, Ryan Hunter-Reay, who we met earlier in the day as the Founder of “Racing For Cancer”. We are truly fans for life! Sadly, this perfect day had to come to an end and it was time to say goodbye. Natalie was the perfect hostess, and by the end of the day, I felt that she was part of our family. As weeks have past, this amazing experiencing is still one of the top dinner conversations of the summer. Everyone that we have met, we still talk about the experience and in awe of the “ROYAL treatment” that we received. Thank you again, “Racing For Cancer” for choosing our family to be the representative of this awesome charity. Thank you for always making a difference in a child’s life, especially a child who has a life threatening disease, because all they want or wish for is to have a normal childhood. Racing For Cancer, once again made a child go from feeling sick, to turning a frown into a “SMILE’. Thank you!