#4TA KIDS

Learn about our awesome kids!

Sam

Sam has an undiagnosed medical condition affecting multiple body systems. Sam requires a G tube, J tube, appendicostomy, and a central line. He is also currently TPN/HPN dependent. Majority of the time, you will see Sam riding around in his wheelchair to better assist him. He loves being part of things, spending time with friends, being silly, playing jokes or being a prankster. Sam’s favorite activities include playing minecraft, terraria and scrap mechanic, dancing, riding mules, building with legos, and making friends. Science is the class he’s most looking forward to, and when he grows up, he is going to work at Costco during the day and be a YouTube star at night. His idea of the perfect combination of jobs.

Jacob

Jacob was diagnosed with Dilated Cardiomyopathy, congestive heart failure and failure to thrive at 3 months old. Dilated cardiomyopathy causes the left ventricle of the heart to become enlarged and not pump efficiently. With the decreased heart function, it can affect the lungs, kidneys, liver and other body systems. Although he has made great progress and come so far since diagnosis, he still struggles to keep up with his peers, and struggles with fatigue. He is a very bright, reserved young man who is eager to toss/kick a ball around, shoot some hoops or swim whenever he can. Jacob an eager learned, whether it’s school or learning about how things work, and he loves to cook!

Colin

Colin is very social and enjoys making people laugh. He loves nothing more than to run and play ball all day. Colin is diagnosed with Trisomy 21 (down syndrome), ADHD, and Hypotonia. He is motivated to learn through computer and iPad activities, he is very observant and is delighted to have someone to look up to and teach him new things!

Shane

Shane has been officially diagnosed with autism since he was five. He started with a speech delay until testing and evaluations finally diagnosed him. The autism spectrum is broad and there are a lot of ways to describe him and his condition but to us he is a gift. What really distinguishes him from the rest is his unconditional ability and desire to love. He is kind, honest and sincere despite his challenges. He loves to learn and will memorize things he is interested in down to the smallest detail. He enjoys attending school as well as playing at the YMCA. He loves Star Wars, dinosaurs, reptiles, and is warming up to sports. He loves creating things out of paper. With a trusty pair of scissors and tape he can create anything from animals to 3D action figures. He wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up. We are thankful to #4TheAbility for giving him this opportunity to be recognized and celebrated.

Prescott

Prescott suffers from Mitochondrial Myopathy, which is a form of muscular dystrophy that effects his entire body. He has a feeding tube which goes into both the stomach and the small intestine that helps to keep him healthy. Currently, he also has a central line, which is a an intravenous line that is more permanent. He gets his nutrition through this tube. He has seizures, high blood pressure, a weak immune system and is developmentally delayed. Prescott has had over 40 different hospitalizations and/or surgeries. He has a great team of doctors and he is now a familiar smiling face with many of the nurses in the hospital. Aside from his limitations, Prescott is a very happy little boy. He loves Mickey Mouse, trains, and car washes. He also loves the color orange and enjoys playing in the sandbox.

Gavin

Gavin was not diagnosed until he was four with autism although he had lots of health issues when he was born. He struggled with things like severe reflux and gut issues, low muscle tone, delayed mile stones etc. His expressive verbal language was delayed but as he got older our hope was that it would come and that he would someday talk. By the age of seven the doctors were not hopeful that he would.
Gavin loves being outdoors, on his trampoline, swimming, Nascar, firetrucks, Monstor Jam, basketball, football, BSU anything. He loves his family and extended family and his two dogs Bella and Bailey. He loves music….country, rock, gospel, pop and has it on his iPad constantly.He loves riding the school bus home from school and finds such joy in the common simplicity of life.

Jace

Jace is on the Autism Spectrum, yet is extremely social and loves to play basketball! Jace also enjoys singing, dancing, his friends, playing on his iPad and collecting dinosaur figures (he has around 30 of them!). His favorite dinosaurs are Parasaurolophus and Pachyrhinosaurus. Jace has a baby sister, who he adores and works hard at being a great role model; he also loves to spend time with his family. He would like to play basketball as he gets older and is looking forward to participating in summer basketball leagues.

Moses

Moses enjoys music, dancing, friends, parties and cooking. Heloves to watch football and his favorite activity is swimming. One day, he hopes to be in the Special Olympics and also wants to be a chef when he grows up. Moses is originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo and came to the US when he was 6 months old. Moses doesn’t let Down Syndrome slow him down because he has big plans for life!

Matthew

Matthew has been diagnosed with Down Syndrome. He has an older brother Zack, a younger sister, Abby and a younger brother Christian. He loves all things Hot Wheels and Nerf. Matthew is very social and loves being active, playing sports (especially football, basketball & swimming). And has ambitions to someday go to work like Dad and his big brother Zack.

Journey

Journey is a sweet and loveable girl. She happens to have Down Syndrome and it has not stopped her from living life to its fullest. She enjoys spending time out with family and friends and has a younger sister. Journey enjoys walking and running around whenever she gets the chance to “be free” at the park. She loves to play outside, jump on the trampoline or bounce houses.

When Journey was born, they discovered she had Down Syndrome and two holes in her heart. She was a slow eater because of those holes so she had a feeding tube surgically placed to go home. She had open heart surgery at 8 months old and we always joke that they turned on her switch when they fixed her heart. From that moment on she hasn’t stopped. She got her feeding tube out only 4 weeks after surgery at 9 months old. She also hasn’t stopped eating since then.

Victor

Victor was born pre-mature at 27 weeks and was diagnosed at birth with Chronic Lung Disease. At four months, Victor required a feeding tube for failure to thrive. At eight months, he had surgery to repair a hole in his heart. Continuing onto age two, Victor was also diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy which was determined to be from a stroke in utero that caused bleeding and lack of oxygen to his brain.
Victor will always be battling Chronic Lung Disease and Cerebral Palsy. Every day is a struggle to accomplish tasks that people without disabilities don’t think twice about.
Victor is all boy. He loves sports and his favorite team is the Miami Dolphins which he decided on his own (his parents are Steelers fans). He’s been learning and practicing to dribble a basketball. He loves Xbox and video games and is currently in Cub Scouts. His dislikes – that he can’t jump (doesn’t stop him from trying) and absolutely hates lettuce.

Zeke

Ezekiel loves batman and making new friends. He wants to be a professional football player when he grows up but may not be able to despite his health issues. Zeke has mitochondrial disease complex 1 and 2 and severe gastroparesis so the simplest thing like walking, makes him very tired. He has a feeding tube and a central line in his heart where he receives constant nutrition.

Jadon

Jadon is an incredibly active, bright, happy, tender-hearted 6 year old boy! He loves being outside (no matter the weather!), swimming, camping, all things dirt, lego and animals!

We had the privilege of adding Jadon into our family when he was 10 weeks old and adopting him 750 days later. He works hard through the challenges of Attachment Disorder (which present similarly to Autism) and severe ADHD, on a daily basis. Jadon is such a resilient, hard working, sweet kid. He loves to be included, and wants to know why and how all things work!

Joey

Joey is a young man with Downs Syndrome with dreams and aspirations like anyone else. He loves people and loves himself (as he is always taking photos of himself) and he loves his mother, Wanda. Over the years, Joey has appeared in numerous newspaper articles, has modeled for Nordstrom and has even appeared in a booklet published for elementary school kids, among other things.
Joey has been given the awesome opportunity, with the help of Darcy and others, to work with Blanchett’s football team as an assistant to the coaches.
Joey truly loves this position and loves Blanchett.

Jace

Jace was born with FAE, Fetal Alcohol Effects. Some of the neurological characteristics of Static Encepahlopathy in persons who were prenatally exposed to alcohol include: Easily distracted and disorganized, poor judgment, difficulty with abstract math and money management, difficulty remembering things (short term memory), difficulty retrieving information from memory, emotional immaturity and inability to control impulses.
Jace is an outgoing, too smart for his own good at times, child. He loves to laugh and have a good time. He loves his family and gets excited when he gets to see them. He loves to watch family vlogs on Youtube, especially Roman Atwood or Verne Troyer. He is a fan of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, has a fascination with “Dark Vader”, loves to swim and loves to help mom cook in the kitchen. He is a big helper no matter where he goes and and is loved by all who come into contact with him.

Mikaela

Mika is very loving girl and enjoys spending time with her sibilings and friends.

Mika loves to dance and listen to music. She is also an amazing swimmer and enjoys being in the water. She learned to swim at the age of three thru the Infant Swim Rescue program and continues to develop her swim skills through weekly lessons.

Mikas favorite pastime is watching her favorite movies and TV shows such as Minions, Despicable Me and Odd Squad from PBS and pretending to be like the characters.

Mika is currently in second grade and enjoys going to school. She is supported by many caring individuals in almost every aspect of her life. Those who know Mika see first hand that she’s smart, determined, outspoken, caring, funny and knows how to bring a smile to anyone’s face with her amazing hugs!

Elsie

Elsie is such a happy girl with friends everywhere she goes! She was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy when she was 14 months old. Elsie is a hard worker, and has always done hard things with a smile! She has troubles with her fine motor skills, speech, has weakness in the left side of her body, and she tends to fall sometimes.

When one thinks of Elsie, they can’t help but think of Buffalos! (Bison)

Elsie loves Buffalos! When she was four, we went to Yellowstone and she fell in love with them. Still, 7 years later, she loves them just as much! Buffalos have become kind of her mascot….when things get hard, we talk about being Buffalo brave. Elsie loves art and she dreams of being a ballerina some day. She also has a great imagination….and that is an understatement! Elsie is full of love and fun and determination!!

Milo & Charlie

Charlie and Milo are fraternal twin brothers. They share a birthday, a love of animals and a diagnosis of Down syndrome, but that is about where their similarities end.

Charlie has always been one strong guy. He loves all kinds of sports, particularly those that involve a ball – football, baseball, basketball, soccer, you name it! He loves to run and is working hard to learn to jump. Charlie also gets excited when he sees big trucks, fire trucks, ambulances, airplanes, trains, tractors and helicopters. Typical boy, right? Charlie likes to do what the big kids are doing and copies his older brother, Andy, in everything – even the things that get him into trouble!

Milo’s favorite thing is using his amazing sign language vocabulary to communicate! He is beginning to speak more and more every day, but until his speech takes over, sign language is his primary language. He knows well over 250 signs! He also loves books and songs – particularly those with motions. Milo learns new things quickly, loves to be snuggled and tickled and his smile lights up the room. Outside, his favorite things to do are swinging and playing in the water.

Max

Max was Diagnosed with T-Cell ALL (Leukemia) on Christmas Eve 2016. Max has been positive, upbeat, and an inspiration throughout treatment. He has had his ups and downs, days filled with unknowns and fear and days filled with tears of triumph, but he ends every day with a smile. His parents and brothers love him more than he could ever comprehend and are in awe everyday of the hard things he has to go through and how he handles them. Max will be receiving chemo treatments until May of 2020 and on that last day of treatment he can’t wait to declare to everyone that he won the fight. We have no doubt he will do it with a smile on his face! Max enjoys the outdoors, hunting, fishing, camping, rafting and swimming. He has one of the most sincere kind hearts anyone has ever met and he loves fiercely. He loves all sports and his favorite seems to change with the season. Max is one of a kind and loved by everyone who crosses his path. To put it bluntly, he is our hero, our pride, and our friend.

Ethan

Ethan is 9-years-old and going into the 4th grade at Hillsdale Elementary this fall. He loves watching his sister play soccer and watching the Boise State Broncos play football. He loves music, dancing, being around people and laughing. He was diagnosed with Autism when he was 2-years-old and has always been a light in our lives…we are so grateful for his positive spirit!

Kean

Kean’s parents must have had a crystal ball when they gave him his name. It is Welsh for fighter. Kean was born 5 weeks early and earned nearly two months in the NICU. His “staycations” at the hospital have been a big theme in his life. A month before his 3^rd birthday, Kean was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. He underwent daily chemo treatments for nearly 3 ½ years. His family likes to call him the triple threat—he has Down’s syndrome, Autism and cancer but really, he’s a tough little warrior. He loves dance parties, Curious George and Elmo, ice cream, orange chicken and bacon. He especially loves attention (unless he’s not feeling well) and he gives the best hugs on the planet!

Kyree

Meet Kyree…a very active, talented and charming 4 year old. Kyree loves to play all types of sports and is defiantly all boy. He has lots of natural and physical ability when it comes to any competitive ball playing type sports. This DNA trait is one of the skills that were passed on from both his mother and father. Since first walking at 16.5 months, he has been sprinting and kicking balls nonstop. Kyree is one strong and tough little man. He has been so blessed with physical strength, that he only required PT (Physical Therapy) for just a few months while he was an infant. Kyree is one of the lucky few that have an extra 21st chromosome, which gives him a medical diagnosis of Trisomy 21, or Down syndrome.

In addition to Kyree’s physical talents, he is also musically talented. Dancing and singing to a good beat again comes very easy and natural for him. Pitbull, Bruno Mars, Elvis Presley, NSYNC and many others are just a few artists Kyree likes listening to. He loves to dance, play his toy guitar, play his grandma’s piano and shake his maracas to a good beat.

Kyree is a very kindhearted and loving little boy. In his few short years on this earth, his smile and friendly personality has charmed its way into so many individual souls. Every person Kyree comes in contact with is always met with an authentic smile, captivating eye contact and a welcoming greeting.

Kyree WILL do many, many great things! His future is bright and his potential is endless. He is destined for greatness in whatever path he chooses! He truly is a “Legend in Training”.

Dashiell

Dashiell has a superpower. Most of us have only 46 chromosomes, but Dashiell has 47, and that makes him extra! He was diagnosed with Down Syndrome in the hospital when he was born five years ago, but he is living a life without limits. He’s had his share of health challenges, including open-heart surgery when he was only 18 months old, although you wouldn’t know it from watching him. His first love was music and dancing, and his first words may have been “Bruno Mars”. He also loves books, soccer, baseball, football, basketball, hockey, and wrestling. His favorite teams are the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Meridian High School Warriors. The Warriors adopted Dashiell during football season this fall, and he was able to meet the players and coaches and watch the home games from the sidelines. Dashiell is being homeschooled, where he’s learning to read, work on his handwriting, and discover the world. He also has speech, occupational, and physical therapy three times a week for three hours at St. Alphonsus Jump Start program. He is a big brother and best friend to Tallulah and Aksel.

Do You Want to Get Involved?

If you are interested in signing someone up, send us an inquiry and we will get back to you as soon as we can!

Contact Us