Ridenour Family

Dear Jon and Heidi,

I have searched for the perfect words to convey to you how much our Absolutely Amazing Ridenour WOW experience meant to us all, but there are no words out there that could ever say what we feel, so from deep in our hearts we say ?THANK YOU?!!! To know that you and all those involved in our experience wanted to give our family something so special?it truly is overwhelming. Jon, talking with you on the phone really touched my heart. Thank for taking your time to talk with me. At a time when I was hurting, you brought such joy to my heart! Heidi, the time you spent on the phone with me arranging details and working out flights is so appreciated. The kindness in which you spoke as we talked is something I will never forget.

From the time we left our small little city until we left the big city of Vegas and headed home, we never once talked or thought about cancer, sickness or treatments. It had a big impact on us as a family as it was reviving, fun and packed full of so many wonderful memories. Better than anything we had ever hoped for!! From the time we arrived at the Venetian/Pallazzo resort we felt like we were in a wonderful dream. The amazing managers of the Venetian; John Brady, Heidi Skarr and Pete Boyd along with several staff members, were there to greet us and make us feel so welcome. No detail of welcome was left out, the photographers and even a red carpet was rolled out. The tour to the Prestige Lounge and then our suite was so special. Then, to arrive and enter that incredible suite?.. Absolutely Stunning! It was unlike anything we have ever experienced before, and there was nothing that we needed that was not there for us.

THANK YOU, Venetian/Pallazo resort!!! John gave us time to freshen up and change and then met us for our beautiful and fun Gondola ride. Rocco our gondolier was incredible! He had such a fabulous voice and personality. We will never hear ?forget about it? and not think about him. haha John was so gracious and gave us a guided tour of the resorts and then gave us time for dinner and a break before we met up for Rock of Ages. The show was so fun!! The actors were great and to hear them belt out those songs from the 80?s was amazing. I felt like I was a teenager again, and the kids got a good laugh. Thank you to the sweet ushers that helped us get to our seats and made sure we were comfortable before they removed my wheelchair. Such sweet ladies! Your simple gestures of kindness will always be remembered. Our pool time on Friday was super special as well. Nicole met us and got us settled into a fabulous cabana, and then Shannon took great care of us while we were there. They were such sweet ladies! It was such a wonderful feeling to be able to be ?outside? enjoying the outdoor pool life with my family. Due to the severe sun burn side effects of the chemo that I am on, I have missed out of being able to be outside with my family all summer. The shade and openness of the cabana gave me something I have missed so much!!!THANK YOU!! Jon, Thank you for arranging our meeting with Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, it was beyond FANTASTIC!! My daughter and I were already BIG fans of them both. We love their music, and Flicka was her favorite movie as a child, so it was a dream come true to meet them both. My husband and son came out of meeting them huge new fans. They were both so kind and really engaged in conversations with us all. Such a special couple!!!! Thank you to Mike Willinsky, for working with us for this special time. Thank you to our two kind photographers for taking pictures and being so nice to us both days. Our special 5 course meal at Canalettos was superb!! We really enjoyed the evening. It was the best meal that we have ever eaten!! Thank you, Darren Chini.

Please pass on our heartiest thank you to the chef, the incredible waiter, and the entire kitchen staff. Thank you for arranging photos for us as well. They will make perfect Christmas cards! Our photographer that night was so wonderful. She made sure she got great pictures for us and then made sure we got all of them at the end of the night. Just when we thought the night could not get any more perfect, we got to the Theater to see Tim and Faith in concert, and were told our seats had changed to the front row. I wanted to jump right out of my wheelchair and dance!!! At the risk of being taken out by ambulance, and embarrassing my children, I keep it together. Thank you to Mike and Heidi for helping make this night special. Tim and Faith are such incredibly talented performers. They were so sweet and waved to us at the start of the show, and that made us feel so welcome and special. Then the night took on an entire new meaning.

After Tim sang, One of those nights, he came over to the stage and asked me how I was, then came down, gave me his guitar, signed it and gave me a hug. Thank God I had tissues with me, because I needed them, so did the rest of my family. What very Blessed lady I am to have been the recipient of such an incredible act of kindness! Besides my wedding and the birth of my children, this was the best night of my life!! I don?t think I slept a wink that night. Thank you Tim and Faith!!! Thank you to the Venetian for the tickets to Madame Tussauds, and National Geographic?s 50 Greatest Photographs. We spent Saturday afternoon having fun in the wax museum, and then were amazed by the wonderful photographs. Thank you to John Brady for setting up a limo ride to our Cirque du Soleil experience, and for giving us a chance to have the most amazing limo driver, Monique. She was the sweetest lady. She pointed out sights and gave us history on our ride.

She laughed and joked and was so kind to us. Big thank you to Lisa Hearting, from Cirque du Soleil Michael Jackson ONE. Lisa gave us the best tour back stage. She showed us everything that goes into putting the show together behind the scenes as well as introduced us to some of the cast and crew. She spent her valuable time with us, making sure we saw everything and that we were well taken care of. She arranged for us to have family pictures made before the show and even went out of her way to get us backstage right before the show to have pictures made with some of the cast. Then she gave us all the pictures and some fabulous programs!! The show was incredible! We loved every minute of it, and felt really special when a few of the cast members came by our seats during the final act to blow us kisses. Lisa was right there after the show to make sure we had fun and see us out. We wanted to put her in our suitcase and bring her home with us! Sunday came all too fast, but what a great surprise to have John come to our suite to help us down. He was so kind and brought us the prettiest picture frame and some yummy pastries for the ride home. He even took my guitar and had it shipped to me. I can?t thank him enough for all that he did for us while we were there. He went above and beyond to ensure we were taken care of and that we had a good time. There is nothing special about us?.we are just normal people, who are dealing with the same sad situation that so many people in this world are, but we were treated so special by so many people and it was such a moving experience that is still so overwhelming.

Our WOW experience has changed our lives and is something that our family will NEVER forget. I cannot thank everyone enough for everything, each little detail. We had the trip of a lifetime and all because of each of you!! I pray that God will bless you Jon, and you, Heidi and the Jack and Jill Late Stage Foundation as you work to help so many cancer patients and their families feel so special and make such life changing memories.

Blessings, Ridenour family

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