Hi Tim,
 
I am enjoying your Tactics time newsletters very much! I also have been working my way through your 1st Tactics time book on my Kindle.

Tom Nelson and I  are starting 3 new Colorado scholastic chess tournaments and I will include the flyers for all three as pdf attachments to this email. Anything you could do to help get the word out to chess parents and kiddos would be greatly appreciated.

I also wanted to share my son's story with you, as it is the fundamental reason I have quit my day job and am dedicating myself to promoting chess in every way possible to as many children as I can.

My son Griffin, started playing chess at the age of 4 and when he turned 5 he began competing in scholastic chess tournaments accumulating a lot of trophies along the way. Unfortunately, at the same time he had begun competing, he was diagnosed with Epilepsy.

 

At first it seemed minor in nature and only an inconvenience to him but this quickly changed and became a life threatening condition.

 

Griffin was diagnosed with two incurable brain disorders, Rasmussens Syndrome and Cortical Dysplasia, a condition where there are 1000's of micro-lesions throughout the left hemisphere of the brain.

 

He began having grand mal seizures 4 or 5 times a day and no combination of anti-seizure drugs was helping.

 

In 2012, Griffin underwent two brain surgeries at Children's Hospital where the neurosurgeons removed his left front orbital lobe. These surgeries provided 6 days of seizure relief and then the seizures returned with a vengeance. His cognitive functions had dropped to the point where he could no longer read or play chess. In fact for him, learning of any kind had ceased entirely. His prognosis at this point was dire and the doctors at Children's Hospital felt that the only option left was to remove the entire left hemisphere of his brain (a hemispherectomy). Griffin had this radical brain surgery May 3rd of this year.

 
Griffin spent the next 2 months after this surgery in extreme rehabilitation. He had lost the ability to speak, walk and the entire use of his right hand and arm. What happened next is the truly incredible part of his story. Griffin began playing chess. Before he was able to speak in sentences and before he was able to walk he started playing chess at the hospital. The doctors had never seen anything like this. He is now 5 months seizure free and walking with a brace. He is still relearning speech but is now playing chess at an extremely high level. My wife and I firmly believe that the 1000's of hours he spent doing tactical chess puzzles and playing in tournaments prior to his hemispherectomy, helped in moving critical cognitive functions from his left hemisphere to his right.
 
Griffin is happy and healthy and super excited to be competing at these tournaments and will be participating in all 14. Because of his story I have dedicated myself to providing as many chess opportunities for Colorado children as possible. I have set up a website for these tournaments at www.chessexpress.biz  and you are welcome to check it out. I look forward to sharing more of Griffin's story with you and sharing with other parents how chess has helped him in overcoming enormous obstacles no child should ever have to face.
 
Thank you in advance for your consideration and keep up the great work you are doing!
 
Kevin McConnell Coach/Instructor
Chess Express
303-501-0974