By Justin Anderson
Saturday at 9 a.m., runners will line up at Utah State
University for the fourth annual Braveheart Race. The event is organized by the
Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Detachment 860 located on campus.
Each year, the AFROTC selects a family from the surrounding
area that has a child with a critical medical need and donates all proceeds to
that family to help with the cost of treatments.
This year, five-year-old Rustin Jones was selected as the
sponsored child for the run.
When Rustin was nine months old, his mother, Jeanie, noticed
that he wasn’t using the left side of his body. He hadn’t been meeting muscular
milestones, and when he went in for his well-child checkup, doctors spent an
hour and a half running blood tests which all came back normal.
As Rustin grew up, he went to physical therapists to train
the left side of his body to be more equal with his right side. Shortly after
he turned three, he was referred to Idaho State University’s Speech and Language
Clinic where additional tests were done to try to understand what was wrong. That’s
where they discovered that Rustin had Cortical Dysplasia.
Cortical Dysplasia is caused when the top layer of a child’s
brain does not develop properly. It affects hearing, motor skills and is among
the leading causes of epilepsy.
Rustin was nominated as the sponsored child for the
Braveheart run by his teachers at Sound Beginnings, a program at USU dedicated
to helping children with hearing loss gain the skills they need to succeed and
live a more integrated lifestyle.
Alison Devey, the program coordinator for Sound Beginnings,
said as the group was given the question of who would benefit from the services
provided by the run, Rustin’s name kept on coming to mind.
“He is opening up more and more each day and beginning to
show his silly side to us at Sound Beginnings,” she said. “Our community’s help
couldn’t go to a more deserving family.”
Devey also explained that Rustin’s mom and little brother commute
over 100 miles each day for him to receive the speech and language services he
needs.
“(Rustin’s) mom said she was overcome with emotion when she
received our email about the benefit run and was in shock that this great
opportunity was being presented to their family,” Devey said. “There is nothing
this family won't do to ensure Rustin receives the services he needs to reach
his full potential.”
Jacob Singleton, one of the cadets coordinating the race,
explained the goal of raising as much money as possible for the Jones family.
“All of the registration fees go to Rustin and his family,”
he said. “We are overwhelmed with how willing different businesses are to
actually donate different prizes. This year we have about a thousand dollars’
worth of prizes that we use as a raffle.”
The funds raised through the event will go toward an iPad
with assistive communication apps, and an FM transmitter/receiver system that
will help Rustin be better able to communicate with his parents. Additional
private, physical and occupational therapy is needed, as well as travel
assistance, as Rustin and his family commute from Malad, Idaho to USU regularly
to attend Sound Beginnings.
Singleton hopes the event will raise enough money for the
Jones family to purchase what they need for their child.
“Organizing an event like this can be a lot of work; it’s
stressful,” Singleton said. “But it becomes a way more significant thing when
the cause is a worthy recipient like a little boy who needs help.”
Cody Palmer, a cadet at the ROTC, explained that while he
never runs, he will race this year in order to help Rustin.
“I really only run for PT,” Palmer said, referring to the
physical testing he does for the Air Force.
The race format is a 5k/10k and will take place just west of
the Taggart Student Center. The route will take runners around the campus twice
for 5k and four times for the 10k.
Registration is $15 and includes a bib
number, a raffle ticket and a shirt. Additional raffle tickets can be purchased
on the day of the race.
Registration will be accepted the morning of the race until
starting time. If there are a lot of runners, it may be broken down into two
races as was the case last year.
“Last year, we had about 500 runners, and about half of
those showed up the morning of,” Singleton said. “The race was supposed to
start, and we still had about 100 people in line, so we had to just start the
race, and then we had to start another one about a half hour later. People
didn’t care, they just wanted to run, they wanted to help.”
