Featured clip – “Prematurely born twins ready to ride”

The Footer family to tackle annual Courage Classic together this week

 

They say that good things come to those that wait, but that’s never been the style for 12-year-old twins Max and Nate Footer.

Sitting in the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in downtown Denver dressed in suits with bow ties the twins waited to shake hands with and get an autograph from local sports hero Chauncey Billups. Max and Nate also explained that they, along with their mom Cheryl, dad Mark, and older brother Zach will be riding in the Courage Classic bicycle ride and fundraiser on July 23-24 to benefit Children’s Hospital Colorado.

But the boys were less enthused talking about how hard they have trained to be able to tackle their specific one-day, 40-mile ride or the fact that they gathered $125 each in donations. They were too excited waiting to meet Billups. It’s apparent that Max and Nate have yet to fully realize magnitude of their own accomplishments.

For their parents, this will be the eighth time they’ve participated in the Courage Classic, but for the twins this is the first full ride.

“In their minds they have been riding since 2008,” laughs Cheryl, explaining that the boys used to wait near the finish line with their training-wheeled bikes and to peddle like crazy across the finish line with their parents.

Although the Courage Classic benefits Children’s Hospital — a place Max and Nate have spent more than their fair share of time at — Mark and Cheryl originally started riding as a way to support long-time family friend Nancy Holiday. Her husband, Mike, who also happened to be one of the founders of the Courage Classic and a doctor at Children’s Hospital, died tragically after falling off a cliff. Since then, the Classic has evolved from riding in the memory of their friend to include paying respect and tribute to all of the staff at Children’s who’ve helped Max and Nate thrive.

“Children’s Hospital is one of the best hospitals in the country, if not the world,” said Mark. “And it’s right here in our back yard so what a fantastic place to give back to.”

Max and Nate recently celebrated their 12th birthday, a huge milestone considering they were born nine weeks premature due to a condition known as discordance. When twins are discordant it means that one of the babies is receiving far more nutrients (over-perfusion) in utero than the other (under-perfusion) resulting in a sized difference greater than 10 percent in weight.

Max was being under-perfused, resulting from Nate taking a majority of the nutrients. According to Cheryl, Max was the one who initiated the pre-term birth.

“He was fighting for his own life,” she said.

When they were born Max weight only 2 pounds, while Nate was a relatively healthier 4 pounds. Both boys spent 40 days in the NICU before returning to Evergreen with their family. Nate had pulmonary issues requiring supplemental oxygen, and Max, the smaller, but perhaps healthier of the two, experienced developmental delays requiring years of therapy and medical supervision.

Max didn’t begin to walk until after his third birthday, but Cheryl says you’d never known about either of their struggles by looking at them today.

Despite having the same big grin and crew cut hairstyle, the twins are in no way identical. Nate says that Max is, “crazy” and “obnoxious” because he is highly imaginative. Max says Nate is “aggressive at times,” but that he is “pretty funny.”

Zach, 13, shakes his head and chuckles as he listens to them describe one another.

“I think I’ll be proud of them once they cross the finish line,” Zach said.

It doesn’t matter how fast or slow they go — though there is a friendly, but spirited sibling rivalry — they’ll finish the ride as a family.