Todd Peck always wanted to be a race car driver and Todd Peck IS a race car driver. He is a NASCAR driver nonetheless. Todd hasn’t let Juvenile Arthritis steal his dreams and he hopes that he can be an inspiration to other young persons to not give up on their dreams. Todd understands what it is like to live with disease and how hard it can be to do simple things which others take for granted. He also knows firsthand what it’s like to have a passion for something. He wants the children and their families to have HOPE that dreams are within reach even when you live with JA.
Thoughts from Todd shared in a recent press release:
"Outside the competition in Iowa, I'm also looking forward to working with the Arthritis Foundation and the kids and families who are affected by juvenile arthritis (JA). We'll be hosting two families at each race we're running, and we'll have two families and kids who suffer from JA in Iowa. It's cool for me, not only because I have JA, but because we're giving these kids and families an experience they may not have had otherwise. We can bring in the garage, show them something different and hopefully make them NASCAR fans. I want to help inspire the kids that they can reach their goals. We went to Washington, D.C. last week to the national JA Conference and unveiled the truck. I think we already earned some fans and that's pretty cool. We just want to give something back.
"I hate to give ourselves any expectations for the weekend. I know that in racing things can go in any direction. We just want to get the ball rolling and get off to a solid start. We're planning on running five races this season and right now we only have one truck and one engine. Our goal all the time is to win, but just getting off to a solid start this weekend will be really good. We just want to get the experience and complete all the laps. That will be a good night for our Arthritis Foundation "Kids get Arthritis too" team."
About Juvenile Arthritis and the JA Conference:
Juvenile Arthritis (JA) affects more than 300,000 children in the U.S. JA is a term to describe the many autoimmune and inflammatory conditions that can develop in children ages 16 and younger. There are several different types of JA.
The annual Juvenile Arthritis Conference provides a three-day educational event for families affected by juvenile arthritis. It focuses on health, wellness and fun for children affected by arthritis, lupus, myositis, ankylosing spondylitis and other rheumatic diseases. Visit www.arthritis.org/jaconf for conference information and more resources for children and kids families affected by juvenile arthritis.
For more information about how you can get involved with the Arthritis Foundation, please go to www.arthritistoday.org/kgat. For more information about Todd Peck and Peck Motorsports, please go to www.peckmotorsports.com. Lisa Emrich is author of the blog Brass and Ivory: Life with MS and RA and founder of the Carnival of MS Bloggers.
