The Ride to Give fundraiser came easily to Kaete, but it was still surprising when she read comments from followers calling her selfless, giving and kind. "If they only knew the REAL me," Kaete would chuckle to herself. After all, Kaete Nazaroff spent most of her life being angry. "Just like so many of us, I blamed my unhappiness on other people and their actions. I focused on what I didn't have, instead of what I DID have. I put on a protective shell that has at times come across as hard, tough, and too intense."
But something changed in Kaete when she created Ride to Give. "The anger lifted, the disappointments faded, and the realization that I had something worthwhile to give to this world (other than my beautiful children) set in. How did that happen? How did one boy and a couple I didn't even know change my life?"
Now with a facebook page of over 35,000 likes, Kaete and David continue to help other families in need with The Cause Of The Week and hope to have a yearly Ride to Give fundraiser.
"This fundraiser has become so much more than helping just the Halstead family. It has become a community of prayer and giving that amazes me every day. It proves that together we can help each other. That we can make a difference in each others lives and that really, no one is a stranger. There will always be tragedy and pain in the world and in our lives. But by uniting, praying, giving what you can, and showing patience and kindness to everyone you meet, we can counterbalance all the bad in the world." Says Kaete.
This week, Ride to Give is helping a little boy named Vivek Shenoy in Nyack, New York.
Heather and Vivek have been staying at the Ronald McDonald House after 7 weeks of complete isolation in the hospital. They recently found out that Kaete chose to share Vivek's story this week on the Ride to Give page as a Cause Of the Week.
"Kaete and Dave are exceptional people whose generosity of spirit has touched so many lives....from the affected families to the thousands of followers who have been inspired to give either financially or through prayers and well wishes."
Heather's hope for being on the Ride to Give page, is to ultimately build awareness of Vivek's disease. Although HLH is considered to be a rare disease, it has recently been thought that it may be under diagnosed. "If even just one child is spared the devastating effects of a late stage diagnosis it will have a profound impact."