Hello! Thank you so much for coming to my Briggs & Al's Run & Walk page. This event and the mission it supports mean a lot to us and we are thrilled you took the time to stop by. Thank you.

Why am I doing this?
In March 2003 Max contracted a rare case of pneumonia. He became septic (an infection in the blood) and during the course of treatment the doctors ran into complications as Max's blood wasn't clotting and they couldn't figure out why. A team of critical care doctors worked for several hours attempting to stabilize him. The doctors estimated that Max's likelihood of surviving was less than 3%.

Miraculously, the doctors determined Max had a rare strain ("T Antigen") of the pneumonia and were able to stabilize him. At this point the doctors figured Max had a 50% chance of survival. After a long struggle that included 78 days in the hospital Max was able to go home.

Unfortunately, Max suffered the following damage due to various complications: - Max had the tips of 9 fingers and 6 toes amputated; - Max suffered bleeding on his brain that resulted in brain damage similar to a stroke. He received several months of rehabilitation learning how to regain the ability to walk, talk, and eat; - Max's kidneys were damaged and essentially "shut down" and never recovered.

Max received peritoneal dialysis at home for 10 hours each night for 14 months. On July 13, 2004, Max received a kidney transplant from our hero the late Jane Piering, his father's cousin who passed away in September 2014 after a courageous battle with cancer. It’s hard to believe it has already been 16 years since his transplant and over 17 years since he first became ill. Max's health is good and his labs continue to show no signs of rejection.

In the years after Max’s transplant he was not growing at the appropriate rate and as a result he began taking growth hormones in August 2013. We are very pleased to report that Max had great results and is no longer taking the growth hormones.

We are huge proponents of Children’s Wisconsin and for the past 17 years, we have raised funds for the hospital by participating in Al’s Memorial Run & Walk for Children’s Hospital.

We continue to be active supporters of the hospital and we are planning to paticipate in the virtual family fun this year. Anyone interested in participating in the virtual family fun from August through September 12th is invited to join us as we will be having custom team shirts again this year. A number of individuals have reached out to us about the ability to support the hospital and while we are certainly not soliciting contributions we have established a web site where contributions are accepted for those interested in supporing the hospital.

To join our team or to make pledges online please go to the following web site and click on “Join Team” or “Donate Now”:
http://www.chwevents.org/site/TR/RunampWalk/General?px=1028872&pg=personal&fr_id=1250

If the link doesn’t work you can go to www.alsrun.com and click on the "Donate" button located on the lower middle of the page. On the next screen select "Search for a Team" and enter “Team Maxwell” in the Team Name box and hit the search button. You should then see Team Maxwell Z. Richardson listed below. Click on the "Team Maxwell Z. Richardson" link and it will take you to our personal fundraising page.

To make a donation once you are on our personal fundraising page you click on the “Donate Now” button and enter the relevant information on the top portion of the page and under Gift Designation (just above where you enter billing information) you will want to click on the “Direct my gift to:” and from the drop down box select "Maxwell Z. Richardson Fund".

Alternatively, anyone wishing to make a contribution by check can mail a check payable to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin to us and we will then submit all of the checks together. In 2017 Maxwell’s Endowment Fund at the hospital received an extremely generous testamentary contribution from Mary Dolan (the cousin of Maxwell’s grandpa Mike Richardson). We are pleased to report that with that contribution and the generous contributions received over the past 17 years the Maxwell Z. Richardson Endowment Fund at the hospital is just over $570,000. Based on the size of the fund we are able to make annual disbursements to specific departments at the hospital in the range of $25,000-$40,000. Last the year the fund was able to support the purchase of ambulatory blood pressure monitors for the nephrology clinic.  Thanks again to everyone who has helped us support the hospital!

In closing, thanks again for all the support and please feel free to join us on this virtual Al's run and walk.

Sincerely,
Scott, Cecilia & Maxwell