Meet The Teams!

Liam is a 4 year old who was born with Spina Bifida. He was born at CHOP and has had such journey! But despite his SB it doesnt define him it makes him who he is today!

Amee Seeya is a 17 year old Spina Bifida warrior. She was born in Thailand and adopted there by the Seeya family.Amee attends the 10th grade at Hollidaysburg Area Senior High and is in the Life Skills class there. She loves their community outings to help at a local food bank. She hopes to work with small children or pets when she completes her education.

Harper Grace is our families saving Grace! She completes our family in a million different ways! She is nearly 8 months old! Harper has a brother named Maddox and 3 furry siblings! Harper loves to babble away and smile at her daddy when he gets home from work! She tends to smile and look away acting shy! She has had a few hard go arounds at CHOP, but through and through she has proved to all her doctors that she is fearless! We are so proud of how far she has made it and continues to make it each day, she has beat the odds! 

Braxtyn is our family’s favorite almost 4-year-old. He will be 4, May 29th. His favorite color is green or purple depending on the day. He enjoys playing outside, finding bugs, swinging, gluing, painting, building, playing with slime, playing in corn and being at preschool. 

Logan Yale is 4 1/2 years old and is from the Hazleton area. Logan’s parents received his diagnosis at 32 weeks pregnant. They were quickly referred to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Logan was delivered 4 short weeks later. At 1 day old, Logan had surgery to repair his Spina Bifida. Logan is full of fun, energy and ambition. He loves to try and learn new things and makes friends with everyone

Meet Margaret and Harper. 4 year old twins with Spina Bifida with a whole team of people rallying behind them to succeed in life. Harper is our sassy one, the mini boss. She loves to watch her tv, color and play on her playset. Harper will have you laughing all day long from the things she says to her facial expressions. Margaret is the sensitive mother hen. She loves her babies, to read and help out wherever she can in the house. She has her own quirky personality. The only siblings the girls have are their two doggy brother Cash and Duke. They absolutely love going to school and seeing all their friends and teachers. There isn’t a day that goes by that they aren’t asking to call someone so they can chat. Margaret and Harper are super unique as being twins with Spina Bifida is extremely rare. Daily, they reach for the stars and not only amaze us as their parents but everyone around them. Each and everyday we work hard to make sure that inclusion happens and the team that rallies behind the girls is making that possible

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Sophia was born with myelomeningocele. Hydrocephalus and Chiari 2 Malformation. She had closure of her spine on day on of life and a shunt placed a week later. She has since had 4 shunt revisions. 2 Chiari decompressions.  And a tumor removed from her lower brain cervical area. 

She’s a very funny,energetic 5 year old. A full time wheelchair user. Looking forward to starting kindergarten this fall. She’s very smart and lets nothing get in her way. 

 Our girl Emily turns 18 this year. She is a high school senior and is very excited about her upcoming graduation! Despite the grim odds the docs gave at birth, she has persevered above and beyond! For the first 10 years of her life Emily was ventilator dependent and had a trach. She is now becoming very independent and has plans to attend cosmetology school and move out on her own someday. Emily loves flaming Hot Cheetos, vanilla ice cream cones and most of all, rock and roll music! She is living her best life and is looking forward to attending this year's Laps for Liam event..

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Dante is a 6yo with spinabifida. He is in school and loves sports of any sort. Dante was diagnosed at our 20 week scan. We found CHOP and we qualified for fetal repair. Dante’s repair was done in December of 2015 at 25w. That’s when our warrior started battling. He is a milo open from l3-s2. Dante came at about 33w and we stood 40 days in NIICU. We were heart broken at his grim diagnosis when we were told he’d have no quality of life if he even survived! CHOP gave us hope and the courage to fight for our warrior! Dante is one of the most resilient strongest kids you’d ever meet. He is silly, funny, outgoing and even after 11 surgeries and countless hospital stays you would never know what this kid has suffered through! Dante is the worlds best big brother and is so active. Here we are 6 years later and this little boy who we were told would have no quality of life, is taking swim classes, playing sled hockey, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair tennis. Dante is the life of the party and a true friend and companion to everyone around him. He brings hope love and joy to all around him. He most recently inspired his therapy partner to start walking with crutches. We were all brought to tears as he cheered look I’m just like Dante. Dante truly is our inspiration and we will forever be grateful for our warrior.

Jonah was diagnosed with Spina Bifida at his 18 week anatomy scan. He had open fetal surgery to close the opening on his spine at 23 weeks gestation. At 2 months of age Jonah has a shunt placed in his brain to control his hydrocephalus. Jonah is now 2 years old, turning 3 in November. Jonah loves to love! Wherever he goes, you can hear him saying “Hi!!” to random people or blowing them kisses. Jonah is a big lover of his Black Lab sister, Layna, and cannot wait to be a big brother to his sister, Gracie, in May! He loves to read books (especially ones with babies in them), play with water, hang out with both sets of grandparents, be outside, and most of all, walk. From every morning to every night, Jonah insists on walking. He currently cruises all surfaces around him and is getting closer to walking unassisted on his own terms! Jonah has been doing physical therapy since he was 2 months old and occupational therapy and speech therapy for the last year. Jonah can count to ten, likely because of his girlfriend, Miss Rachel and loves to sing The Wheels on the Bus. We’ve never met a more driven or strong willed person than Jonah, who continuously fights everyday to defy the odds. We are so excited to participate for the second year with Laps For Liam from the Love From Liam Foundation! Please consider purchasing a shirt from Jonah’s Pack. All proceeds go to kids with Spina Bifida who are in need of medical equipment like Jonah!

Sophia Rae Riggleman is a 3 year old little girl who was born with Spina Bifida (myelomeningocele ) , hydrocephalus, and Arnold chiari 2 malformation . Sophia at 1 day of age had her spinal closure surgery,1 month old VP shunt placement surgery for her hydrocephalus ,4 months old she had a shunt revision ,and 2 more shunt revision surgeries all before her 3rd birthday. Sophia currently wears braces on her legs and uses a walker to get around. When Sophia starts preschool she will use her walker for short distance and her wheelchair for long distance. Despite all the diagnosises and surgeries that Sophia has been through she does not let anything keep her down. Sophia is always smiling,she is strong,she is brave, she has accomplished so many milestones some that have not came easy but she always does it with determination and grace. She brings joy to everyone she meets and Sophia continues to defy all the odds every day . Sophia is a true inspiration to her parents and family.

Tobyn is the youngest of 7 children. She is 2 1/2 and rules the roast! Tobyn had fetal surgery at CHOP in Philadelphia at 23 weeks gestation. By 30 weeks she was ready to join the world on the outside, weighing 3lbs!! Tobyn has done amazing things since the last laps for Liam. She was only able to use her bumba before, she then started to use her Walker and now is able to walk with no assistance. This little girl is a walking miracle and touches everyone she is around! We can’t wait to attend our second event this year!