PARTY FOR A GOOD CAUSE!

WHEN: SATURDAY MARCH 28
WHERE: DOWNTOWN @ Bare Back Grill
6-8pm: Dinner and Drinks ($2 of Special goes to ian)
8-10pm: Live band in the back Room
$5 cover and prize giveaway
10pm-2AM: DJ Party
10% (minus staffing)of sales go to ian. Proceeds will not be lost in non-profit bureaucracy!
HOSTED BY: MARIA DEGITZ (mariajdegitz@gmail.com) & PJ LAMONT
You can also donate here:
http://caringbridge.org/visit/ianmcfarland1 (tax deductable through NTAF)

IAN’S STORY

On July 3, 2008, Tod and Stephanie (nee Coleman) McFarland and their three children, Ian, then
five; Lauren, then two; and Luke, then one, headed out from Carlsbad on a road trip. They were
going to attend the wedding of Stephanie’s cousin in Boulder, CO, but they never made it to
Boulder. A horrible car accident claimed the lives of Tod and Stephanie and left all three of their
beautiful children injured to varying degrees.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080706/news_1m6crash.html
While Luke and Lauren’s injuries were minimal, Ian sustained severe head trauma. Ian slowly
came out of his coma, and his rehabilitation continues. He was released from CHSD on Oct. 30
and returned home with much work to do. The feeding tube was recently removed of February
2009 and he is in a wheelchair, unable to walk.
Ian has been labeled as having a “diffuse axonal brain injury with an unknown outcome.” He is
responding well to therapy and seems to be improving little by little. He follows conversations
and can tell jokes with moderate cues to initiate. Being taught to surf and snowboard by his
father, Tod, Ian has not forgotten the sports he once was good at. He wants to surf and skate
board again.
Ian's aunt, Melissa (Stephanie's sister) has legal guardianship of the three children. She dropped
her career and life in Oklahoma, moving to Carlsbad to take the place as mom. Her goal was to
achieve as much normalcy as possible for the children by keeping them in their school, church,
and surrounded by familiarity minus their parents' absence. Violet (Tod's mom), "grandma,"
moved down from Sacramento to help with the children until Ian walks again. Caring for a 2, 3,
and 6 yr. with a traumatic brain injury is not an easy task for a single woman who is thrown into
motherhood at a blink of an eye, nor for a grandmother at age 77, both of which rarely have the
time to process the loss of their dear Tod and Stephanie.
Ian has 100% potential to walk and perform his prior activities. Insurance only covers the bare
minimum. Random therapists that worked with Tod are donating some time to Ian, but the
inconsistency will not progress him to achieve his goals. Funds need to be raised to help him
get back his childhood, to re-gain his ability to run and play outside. It will be a long road, but
with the fire and humor this kid has, Ian will surf again.
More than anything, though, we ask that you take Luke 18:1 literally to, “Pray at all times and do
not lose heart.”