Yesterday I was joined by Tom Gardner, Brad Lee, and David Cope as well as David's son DJ to troop at the horse show fund-raiser being held in Congaree, South Carolina. It was a low-key casual affair with kids riding horses around a small outdoor arena and friends and family and supporters joining. Richard's chair was wheeled over as we unveiled R2-KT and the squad marched over to the arena. For those who don't know, Richard is in the final stages of a diffuse intrinsic pontene glioma (dipg) like Katie had. He is wheel-chair bound and has difficulty communicating and controlling his movements. But we greeted him and he was orienting well to the sight of costumed characters and the droid. He eagerly took the gift bag we prepared for him and immediately wanted to wear the 501st cap and lanyard. We brought t-shirts, caps, lanyards, 501st action figures, trading cards, a CG coin, 501st and R2-KT patches, and autographs by Daniel Logan and Pam Rose. We even had some for his sister, Regan. His mom assured us the thumbs-up he gave (and giving up his sippy cup) was a sure sign he LOVED the visit and the gifts. We spent the next couple of hours entertaining the kids who were there and posing for pictures. Unfortunately Richard couldn't be much more engaged than our first meeting, but his mother told us it was a big hit and really appreciated the show of support from Star Wars fans and the Legion.
As a follow-up, the squad headed over to my house where we worked on the Legion LEGO Diorama project. We were able to get ALL the spectator figures glued to the stands and began decoration of the stands with flower pieces. It was a lot of fun just hanging out in my man cave with my Legion brothers and getting some work done on the project before it ships to Celebration Europe 2. My thanks to everyone who was there as this event held a special place in my heart due to Richard's condition. God bless!
