Amazing Aven's Quest for Amoeba Awareness

22/01/2026

A little recap of our 5th Annual toy drive and our first benefiting Neighbor to Neighbor. So many smiles, so much joy and so much goodness in honor of Aven. Thank you again to all of our donors and volunteers for helping us pull off this incredible event. With your generosity we made Christmas brighter for so many and our donations will continue to support Neighbor to Neighbor and their programming all year long.

19/11/2024

Our 4th Annual Amazing Avens Quest for for Amoeba Awareness Toy Drive is well underway! Scan the QR code or visit the link in the comments to have an item shipped directly to us.

In the last 4 years we have donated over $40,000 in gifts to children in the hospital at the holidays. Donate today to help us bring a smile to those in the hospital this Christmas in memory of Aven.

04/09/2024

We are gearing up once again for the "Cowboy Extravaganza" in support of Amazing Avens Quest for Amoeba Awareness. Aven's New York friends and family and Diamond D Performance Horses are teaming up to host this incredible event that will include Ranch Sorting and a Calcutta in addition to numerous chances to win some incredible prizes while also supporting the foundation.

The event will take place in Groveland, New York on September 21st and will include raffle items, auctions, and a chance to win 5 incredible raffle items with the purchase of a $10 raffle ticket.

If you are in Western NY we would love to see you on the 21st for what is certain to be a fun day! Join us in person to expereince the thrill of ranch sorting!

If you are unable to attend in person you may purchase $10 raffle tickets anytime leading up to the event. A $10 ticket provides you the chance to win 1/2 Angus Beef, Colorado Log Cabin Star Quilt, Wi******er 20 Gun safe, Yeti Roadie 32 Cooler and a Batavia Downs Gaming Getaway. Please reach out to me directly or any of our NY family if you would like to purchase a ticket.

We all know that Aven loved NY and loved farm life. There is no doubt in my mind that he loves this fundraiser more than just about anything that we do. Thank you to Diamond D performance Horses and our NY friends and family for your support! The funds raised at the Cowboy Extravaganza will help support us on our mission to prevent future tragedies caused by the amoeba naegleria fowleri. We hope to see many of you on the 21st!

09/08/2024

Aven's Acts of Kindness

Over the past 3 years on the anniversary of losing our Aven we have asked friends, family and total strangers around the world to spread joy and happiness through "random acts of kindness" in our sweet boys memory bringing a smile to someones face and helping to spread awareness about the deadly amoeba naegleria fowleri.

To participate its easy... 1st decide what you want to do to brighten someone's day. The possibilities are endless. We encourage you to get your families involved and come up with ideas together. Maybe its buying a stranger an ice cream cone after you pick your kids up from school, maybe its sending a note to an elderly neighbor to brighten their day, maybe its delivering cookies to the fire department or maybe its cleaning up a local park or greenway. Once you have decided on your act download and print the act of kindness cards from the link (found in the comments). Then cut off the small sheet on the left and leave it with your random act of kindness helping to spread awareness and letting others know the reason for the act of kindness. Then fill out the form on the right and upload a picture of your act and the card to social media at or email it to [email protected]

Over the last 3 years hundreds of acts of kindness have been completed in memory of our Aven. It truly brings a smile to our families face during what is undeniably a very hard week. We cant wait to see how many acts of kindness are completed this week in his honor.

Anyone who knew Aven knows he was always making people smile. It is our hope that through random acts of kindness this week many will smile and a life just might be saved by the awareness that will be spread.

01/08/2024

Friends, family and those local to the Raleigh area... Head on over to SONO SUSHI from now until the end of August!! This month they are featuring a "Quest Roll" and a Watermelon Mojito with $ from each purchase being donated back to our foundation to support our mission!

At the age of 6 Aven LOVED sushi and Sono Sushi was his most favorite restaurant! We are so honored that they have partnered along side of us the last few years to bring awareness to the deadly amoeba naegerlia fowleri and to help us raise money to support research and early diagnosis.

Throughout the month we hope you will enjoy a "Quest Roll" and a Watermelon Mojito at Sono and share stories about our sweet boy as we remember and honor Avens life and legacy. Thank you Sono for your support!

24/05/2024

Memorial Day weekend… the start of my most dreaded time of the year. The first weekend of the year when my news feed starts to be flooded with hundreds of pictures of friends, family, and people who know our grief well engaging in what they think are fun summer activities. Swimming in lakes, playing in creeks, tubing in freshwater, jumping off swing bridges into rivers, toddlers playing in fountains… the list goes on and on.

I dread the pictures I will see this week and for the months to come during the summer. We used to be that family. The family who didn’t think twice about swimming in freshwater. Our kids always wore life jackets, we watched them like hawks, we did everything possible to keep them safe. We were doing the best we knew…. But there was so much we didn’t know…

If we had known then what we knew now we would have never let our children swim in freshwater. I hear it all the time, “it won’t happen to me. You were just unlucky.” I beg you to think about our family this week and in the weeks to come as you plan your summer fun. One swim is not worth the hell We live in everyday.

Two years ago we sat down with WRAL on Memorial day weekend to share our story. So much has changed since then yet still so much is still the same. Since then we have raised a lot more money, supported a lot more research held numerous more community events Yet the feelings are all the same and the hurt has only deepened. The awareness we hoped to spread when this was filmed and today all remains the same.

Please watch and share and think about safe swimming practices this weekend and in the summer weeks to come. You do not want your loved one to become another statistic.

Make memories this weekend with your loved ones. What I wouldn’t do to have one more day with my Aven.

https://www.wral.com/parents-of-child-lost-to-brain-eating-amoeba-fight-to-keep-others-safe/20296294/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR1eFfw1RhAGt10cuOEPpPVOiy9f0oWiqU9IEhuz0NUkq2PSlaH-oH7Bgpc_aem_AQlAjqJFhtyeNiy8mF1GOliRW9p6Qt67HNLUSOu7eFvkejUWIDTWJl439rdM_mlhRcUodIqBNPznC4_h1l6djatp

This weekend, families and children will be going to the lake, swimming and having fun this Memorial Day. A Wake Forest family hopes you will hear their story before you do. In August, they lost their 6-year-old after a swim.

26/01/2024

BIG ANNOUCEMENT!!!

Today, the foundation is very excited to share with you some exciting news! We are honored and very proud to announce that Amazing Avens Quest for Amoeba Awareness has committed $105,000 to support Katrina Velle, PhD and the Velle Lab at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth!

This grant will fund work on “Defining the basic Biology underlying disease-causing traits in Naegleria.” We have come to realize that there is a lack of understanding about amoebas in general particularly in the amoeba Naegleria fowleri. In order to treat amoebic infections we have to know more about the amoebas themselves; there is so much to learn! The Velle Lab seeks to define the basic biology underlying how Naegleria cells crawl, eat and divide. Throughout the next year they will use this funding to study how these cells crawl. It is our hope that this work will lead to more successful treatments for PAM infections in the future.

We are so thankful for the support of our donors who have made this grant possible. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your monetary donations to support our foundation. There are so many amazing organizations out there to donate to and we do not take it lightly that you chose to support us. A big thank you to Katrina Velle, PhD for taking on this work. We are so honored to partner with you on this project.

In our hearts we know that Aven is smiling down on everyone today that made this $105,270 grant possible. Aven had a million dreams and sang about it all the time. It is our dream, that in our lifetime, our world will be a place where there are zero deaths from infections caused by Naegleria. Supporting research like this is a step in the right direction.

To learn more about Katrina Velle, PhD her lab and this project follow the link. https://katrinavelle.wixsite.com/science

26/12/2023

21/12/2023

Today was the day we have been waiting for! Today was delivery day! Today we drove trailers full of gifts over to UNC Childrens, Duke Childrens, RMH of Chapel Hill and RMH of Durham and delivered $37,000 worth of gifts! All of the gifts will be stored and handed out on Christmas Eve.

$37,000!!! I am still having a hard time even processing that number. There is so much I want to say and so many pictures to share that I will with time but today it's just Thank you. Thank you for making today possible. Thank you for supporting us. Thank you for helping us keep Avens memory alive. Thank you to everyone who donated and all of the volunteers that made today possible.

I am overwhelmed with joy and missing our boy more than ever so for today it's just "thank you."

06/12/2023

We are closing in on the final days of collecting gifts for our 3rd annual toy drive in memory of our boy. If you were thinking of donating and haven't had the chance to yet now is the time. The amazon wish list will be open until December 13th. Help us spread a smile this holiday season in memory of our boy. We are missing our boy extra these days but seeing gifts roll in and being able to deliver them to families in the hospital at Christmas brings us so much joy and helps us honor Aven in the most amazing way. Our goal is to help make the holidays easier for those fighting illnesses over the holidays but we also hope to spread awareness along the way that might just save a life. Help us reach more families this year as we have plans to deliver to UNC Childrens, Duke Childrens, and the Ronald McDonald houses of Chapel Hill and Durham. As always thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your continued love and support.

Link to amazon wish list in comments.

19/09/2023

Thank you Sono! Today Sono presented us with a check for $2,327! That’s a lot of Aven rolls! We are so thankful for their generous donation and how they helped us to spread awareness during the month of August! We will make sure that these funds go to support awareness, education and research for naegleria fowleri so no other family has to feel our pain.