Dash Mihok

Under the bright lights and in front of the cameras, 11-year-old Jaylen Arnold prepared to make his network debut.

He’s one of six people featured in the upcoming documentary “Tourette’s: Pushing People to Greatness.”

“Having a camera crew follow me around and having cameras on me is really cool,” said Jaylen.

The film will highlight the lives of six people finding success with tourette’s, including a NASA rocket scientist and the film’s director Stephen McCall.

“I hid my Tourette’s until I was 25,” McCall said. “So, I like it when I see children like Jaylen stepping out and putting their story out there saying ‘hey this is me.’”

McCall and his crew followed Jaylen to experience a day in his life. They even captured the moments when Jaylen’s tourette’s was more evident. The cameras also followed those closest to Jaylen too.
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“On June 16th, Carissa’s world was brought to a halt when she was hit by a drunk driver. She was participating in a group bike ride, which includes between 30-150 cyclists who meet up at a destined spot & cycle together 30-60 miles through Los Angeles County. Approximately 70 cyclists gathered at the bottom of a hill to wait for others to catch up when a 27 year old drunk driver, speeding at over 60+ mph, crossed over the solid white line and accelerated before slamming into the group of cyclists. Carissa was that drunk driver’s first victim. Carissa’s body was thrown a very far distance before landing in the water-filled gutter, where she was found unresponsive. In a coma in UCLA’s PICU unit, Carissa suffers MANY, MANY injuries which will take months, if not years, to heal from. She has a HUGE mountain to climb just to begin that healing.”

Read Carissa’s full story here at Jaylen’s Challenge and be sure to check out “Hugs for Carissa” here on Facebook as well.

Jaylens Challenge has decided to organize an annual 5K walk/run to assist in our fundraising efforts. It’s hoped that through success we can reach more emotional, depressed and in many cases suicidal students in our schools. Bullying in our schools is a serious problem. You simply cannot sit back and allow this to continue unchallenged. Our aim is to make a difference, our aim is to educate.

We need your help.

On Saturday, April 23rd, 2011 we will hold our annual Blue Ribbon 5K Run/Walk. All proceeds to benefit the Jaylens Challenge Foundation, Inc.

Event Information

Where: Lake Hollingsworth, Lakeland, Florida
Entry Fee: $20
Registration: 8am
Run/Walk Start Time: 9am

Please visit Jaylen’s Challenge for more information and to download the flyer and registration form.