SARANAC — Getting outdoors is very important to the family of Shawn and Kelsey Neri.
The family are major supporters of the 1,000 Hours Challenge, which urges people to get away from technology and screentime and try to spend 1,000 hours outside every year.
With the new year recently starting, the family has already printed out their 1,000 Hours Challenge worksheets, which can be downloaded at 1000hoursoutside.com/trackers.
They plan to continue having 2-year-old Cali and her 7-month-old brother Clayton enjoy as much time out in the world as they can, despite Cali’s struggles with Powassan virus.
“A parasite might have taken a lot from us but we will not allow it to take all we stand for,” Kelsey said.
The family hopes to be an example for others to join the 1,000 hours challenge to get outside more often.
And although Cali’s condition stemmed from a tick bite, the family says they don’t want people to be afraid to go outdoors.
Instead, the Neris are urging people to help tick disease research by sending in ticks for SUNY Upstate Medical University’s Thangamani Lab to study.
Details on how to properly collect, document and send ticks to the research lab can be found at thangamani-lab.com/tick-submission.