After being diagnosed with Lyme disease, Olivia Goodreau was taking upward of 86 pills a day for a time. Her father, Stan Goodreau, is president of Colorado Custom Spas in Denver; he says he’s grateful he and his wife could afford Olivia’s medications, but realized that wasn’t likely the case for many families.
More than two years ago, Goodreau and his family were helping at a Colorado Custom Spa booth for a gala fundraiser when a then 12-year-old Olivia said, “Why don’t we do something like this for kids that need all the pills?” It got Goodreau and his wife thinking about what that would look like.
In 2017, they started the LivLyme Foundation, an organization that pays up to $2,500 in medical bills and prescriptions for children under 18 who are diagnosed with Lyme disease. Applicants send their medical bills to LivLyme, and the foundation pays the practitioner directly. It provided 11 grants in 2017 and 2018, and is poised to provide grants to 24 families this year. Additionally, LivLyme has donated $25,000 grants to labs at Stanford University, Johns Hopkins, Duke and the University of New Haven that are working to find a cure.
Colorado Custom Spas supports this research as well as Kenzi’s Causes, which provides underprivileged children and their families with toys, food and clothing during the holidays. CCS collects toys for the organization, and Goodreau gives everyone the day off to help with the toy drive each year.
Colorado Custom Spas also supports a local couple befallen by tragedy. On a May morning in 2017, a dump truck blew a tire, then hit and dragged a vehicle driven by Troy Ketchum. After both the dump truck and Ketchum’s vehicle burst into flames, staff from Colorado Custom Spas ran from the store to help free the trapped passengers. Ketchum’s wife, Jamie, suffered fourth-degree burns over 80% of her body, spent more than 425 days in the hospital and lost three limbs. Jamie’s mother and father were also in the vehicle. Jamie’s father did not survive.
The CCS team underwent trauma counseling for several weeks, and two years later, the incident still brings tears to Goodreau’s eyes. The Colorado Custom Spas team remains in contact with the Ketchum family and continues to donate to a fund in the Ketchums’ name.
“It doesn’t matter what you want to get behind — just find something,” Goodreau says, adding that he hopes most hot tub business owners are supporting a cause. “It’s so rewarding to be part of a solution. It’s the power of getting involved. I want to believe that we are doing more than living for ourselves.”
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