"Run, Steve, Run" Fundraiser

You don’t have to run, walk ... or even show up!

On May 25, Dr. Steve Sidney will celebrate his 59th birthday by attempting to run a lap of Piedmont’s Witter Field track for each year of his healthy and productive life. Support this lofty goal — and Christopher Rodriguez and his family — with your contribution.

Click here for more details

Update - April 3rd

One great thank you to the Oakland Youth Chorus for the fantastic benefit show at the First Unitarian Church in Oakland. This was Chris' first time out to a performance and we had relatives visiting from LA who joined us for the show. Chris really enjoyed being out and hearing music. When he saw his former teacher Michelle and her great group he was really excited. All the groups were great and Chris had a chance to meet many of them afterwards. Thanks to everyone who attended.

We want to thank Carol Alban for putting together a fantastic show At Yoshi's Jazz Club in Oakland. Two shows with great line ups! Chris stayed well into the second show and really had a great time.

Since being home we continue to be busy in a new way with medical and therapy appointments. During the various spring breaks we had company from Los Angeles and San Diego and enjoyed our visitors. Chris starts outpatient therapy appointments and coach Tapscott from the Downtown Oakland YMCA is working with Chris.

Today Chris visited school for a pizza birthday party lunch. Yeah it was great to see everyone.

Update March 20th

After two months in the hospital and several weekend day and overnight passes Chris came home on March 11, 2008. We are happy to be in the same home together. We spent the first few days at home together with a few visitors, but mostly spent time together. This week we started having home visiting therapists and medical appointments. Chris was evaluated at the Children's Spine Clinic at Shriner's in Sacramento. He was accepted and we have follow up appts in May and September. Since Chris is only two months out from his injury, there is still initial healing that has to take place. We are encouraged by this.

Chris seems to be experiencing good pain control and he has acupuncture and massage 2-3 times a weeks to help with pain. His attitude is great and we are all extremely appreciative of all the support and prayers and love.

Update - February 20

From Jennifer: "We want to continue to thank everyone for kind thoughts and actions. We are grateful for the many referrals and forwards about state of the art treatments. Thanks to all of you who have mentioned The Miami Project. We have talked with them and they are sending information about their research programs for children. We have also been in touch with the Christopher Reeve Foundation, U C Irvine, Rutgers University, BioEden's Stem Cell program and Lazer Treatments. Because Chris is 10 years old several people feel that during his lifetime there will be significant advancements. We are responsibly investigating these potential treatments. We must also however learn how to function on a daily basis upon discharge from the hospital. Currently we are dealing with pain management for the neuropathic pain Chris is experiencing. It is very real to him and we want him to be comforted. We are grateful to our Chiropractor/acupuncturist/massage therapist who visits Chris. He has much less pain following one of her massages/treatments. Thank you Beth Marx!!"

Chapel of the Chimes Benefit - Thank You!

Richard and Jennifer say: "A huge thank you to everyone who participated in and attended the benefit concert at the Chapel of the Chimes on Sunday. The energy was overflowing with love, caring, enthusiasm and above all community spirit. People came together to enjoy an afternoon of music and food and to share thoughts of encouragement with us. Our sincere thanks to Jim Callahan, Enid Hunkeler and all the event planners and volunteers. Special thanks to 'John' for his many hours of preparation. We recorded parts of the event and showed Chris later that night. He enjoyed watching it. Chris is also in school at Children's. He has a full day schedule and is enjoying visits from his schoolmates."

Jennifer says: "From the second I entered the room I began to cry. Looking to my left, right or straight ahead I saw my co-workers from the Division of Research (Kaiser) selling tickets, serving food or beverages and much more. Thank you so very much. You know I love you all.'"

Oakland Tribune article is here. San Francisco Chronicle article is here.

Your Comments Are Being Heard By Chris's Family

Please know that any offers or suggestions are being passed on to Chris's family. While they are too overwhelmed to constantly monitor the site at this time, we (Friends of the Family) have been passing on information to them. At least one of us visits this site everyday, forwarding all offers and suggestions to Chris's family. Please continue to leave words of encouragement, offers, suggestions and questions. Thank you all so much for visiting!