Addie Lynn is a 6-year-old facing a realization that no child should have to cope with: this Christmas may be her last.
Addie suffers from a diffuse atrophy, a condition that causes her brain to fill with fluid and gradually get smaller. All she wants this Christmas is for people to send her homemade cards.
Children like Addie are why siblings Angelina and Angelo Velotta set out to raise awareness for during their Radio Waves 4 Braves broadcast on December 4 and 5.
“Sometimes people get wrapped up with materialistic or monetary gifts,” Angelina said. “They forget the true meaning of what life is about.”
Radio Waves 4 Braves was a 24-hour marathon that took place from noon to noon and raised over $600 for Mercy Children’s Hospital in Toledo.
Angelo came up with the concept in 2009 before graduating in 2010 while Angelina, now a senior psychology major, brought her brother’s concept back and invited him to return to the station.
Angelo said the primary goal of the broadcast was to raise awareness of the Children’s Miracle Network, a collaboration of children’s hospitals that promises to put saving a child’s life before monetary gain. Mercy Children’s Hospital is part of this network.
The marathon, broadcast from West Hall, included a variety of programming. The two hosts interviewed three “Miracle Families,” ABC News correspondent John Quiñones and other supporters, had the band 2EZ play a song they wrote for the broadcast, held a March Madness-style ultimate candy bracket with callers casting their votes for their favorite candy and played music in between segments.
“A big purpose of this event was to unite people,” Angelina said. “Particularly in the Bowling Green area.”
Angelina, who organized a majority of the broadcast, got local businesses and 12 student organizations to show their support, including Phi Beta Sigma, the African People’s Association, Bleacher Creatures and WBGU, among others.
One of the main contributors to the event was Dance Marathon, a student organization that also benefits miracle children by raising money all year and holding its annual ZiggyThon, a 32-hour dance marathon that raises money for the same charity.
“It was just one of those things that shows you the collaborations that are happening within the Bowling Green community and how even though we’re all separate entities, we can come together and do something really great for the community,” Dance Marathon Director, Alison Doughty.
Encouragement from organizations like Dance Marathon and supporters like the miracle children is what Angelo said kept him and his sister going for 24 hours straight.
“We can go to sleep at the end of the 24 hours … maybe it takes a day or two to recover, we’re ready to go,” he said. “With those kids, it’s a day-to-day thing they get challenged with every day so they’re the real inspiration. They were the real reason that we did both broadcasts.”
Angelina, Angelo and Doughty all said the broadcast went very well, and although Angelina is graduating this month, she said she hopes to see somebody else continue the broadcast so children like Addie can get the support they need.
Christmas Cards can be mailed to Addie and her sisters at this address:
Addie Lynn and Sisters, PO Box 162, Fountain Green, UT 84632.
