Jason is a 39 year old native of New Hampshire. He has always had a love for sports and found himself injured too many times to count throughout his teenage years. He spent most of his 20’s and 30’s on the operating table having various limbs repaired. With all those years of surgery came many years of recovery, all of which prevented him from pursuing the activities he loves. In 2013 Jason found himself healthy and ready to compete in a Tough Mudder. A Tough Mudder consists of a 10-12 mile course up and down a mountain with 18 crazy obstacles along the way! Jason had a lot of fun and found himself healthy and ready for a bigger challenge…IronMan! He is training day in and day out to be sure he crosses that finish line strong and healthy in Chattanooga and hears those words, Jason McCaffrey, You ARE an IronMan!

Jason also feels privileged to have the opportunity to help raise money for children in need. Once again he has no experience with fundraising, but he did have the privilege early in his adulthood of living with a family and helping care for their 4 adopted children, one of which is deaf and has Down’s syndrome. It was such an enlightening experience. He learned at an early age not to take things for granted, not to take life for granted. He learned that he really enjoyed helping others in need. The satisfaction you get from putting a smile on someone’s face is so heartwarming.

Jason decided to split his fundraising in 3. He will be raising money for Prayers for Baby Stone, Ride to Give, & Sunshine on a Ranney Day.

Baby Stone is an adorable 23 month old little boy with some awful challenges. He has been diagnosed with failure to thrive, intestinal malrotation, GERD, and a general motility disorder. What that translates into is some severe intestinal issues that have sent Baby Stone to the hospital many times, several of which have resulted in surgeries. It also means that he needs to be on a very restricted, mostly tube fed diet, otherwise he will have severe flare ups that could land him back in the hospital. He was also more recently diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency which requires daily growth hormone shots. If the insurance company denies the claim, the shots will cost the family $30,000 per year! Baby Stone has an older sister, Evie, who is the sweetest girl, but has some struggles of her own. She was diagnosed with Autism which creates its own challenges for the family. Stone & Evie’s parents, Kelly & Matt, are doing everything they can to take care of their precious little ones, but they need our help! Matt works hard to take care of his family financially and Kelly must stay home with her little ones and care for their needs 24/7. They need help covering the exorbitant medical costs that come along with having not one but TWO sick children. They are finding it tough to make ends meet these days and are thrilled that you all want to help!

Jason can relate to some of Baby Stone’s struggles on a small scale. To give you a brief background, Jason was diagnosed with Celiac Disease when he was 8 years old. Unfortunately that was in 1983 when there were absolutely no gluten-free options on the market. It proved to be too difficult for his Mom to keep him on such a restrictive diet, so it went by the wayside for many years. We believe all those years of eating gluten when his body was not able to process it properly caused the severe hives that covered his whole body, swelled his eyes shut, and sent us to the emergency room many times in his 20’s. We also believe the eating of gluten is the reason he had to have an emergency appendectomy around the same time. He went a few more years not knowing why all these things were happening to his body until he found the right Dr who again diagnosed him with Celiac Disease in addition to many other food allergies. In talking about it with Jason’s family, they remembered that he was diagnosed as a child! A light went off in Jason’s head and all the pieces to his health puzzle suddenly fit together. Long story short, Jason went on a strict gluten-free diet about 7 years ago and has never looked back! If only it was that easy for Baby Stone.         

Ride to Give is a 501c3 charity that has dedicated their efforts to helping sick and injured children. Being such a young charity (just 1 1/2 years) they have hit some pretty big milestones! With the help of their Ride to Give Army they have raised over $800,000 and helped more than 35 families in need such as Tripp Halstead who suffered a severe brain injury when a tree limb fell on his head, or Jesse who is a sweet boy who needs to be on a ventilator and wheel chair dependant, or the cutest little man, Hawk, who suffers from seizures, and then there’s Callie, one of the sweetest girls you’ll meet, so outgoing, bubbly, and upbeat, but suffering from Williams Syndrome, a life threatening heart condition. The funds raised for RTG will go toward helping more families like these. Families who desperately need our help!

Sunshine on a Ranney Day is another charity who have dedicated their lives to helping build safe rooms for sick children who are suffering more than we can imagine. They converted Briana’s garage into a bedroom and handicap accessible bathroom after Briana and her family were in a  head on collision and Briana found herself in a wheelchair. A.J. is a young man who suffers with Cerebral Palsy and is confined to a wheel chair. SOARD transformed his bedroom and bathroom so he can easily get around on his own. Rachel is a beautiful young lady who is suffering with Lukemia. SOARD transformed her room into a very special American Girl Doll room, something that put a huge smile on Rachel’s face! As you can see SOARD is putting smiles on so many little faces, how happy would it make you to help put a smile on the face of a child struggling with an unimaginable disease?      

I want to do all I can to help these families through their tough times, but I NEED your help. Whether your circumstances allow you to give a little or a lot, it will all mean so much to these kids. This is my first full IronMan event and I must admit that It is quite intimidating, but I am going to turn these feelings of intimidation into motivation because I have committed to help these kids! I want to help put smiles on as many faces as I can. What about you? Please donate today! Give a Little, Change a Lot!