Bryan Warnecke, a well-spoken 15-year-old cystic fibrosis patient, wowed the crowd at the recent Children’s Gala to benefit Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation, with the debut of “I Lived,” a music video by Bryan’s favorite band OneRepublic … starring Bryan.
OneRepublic lead singer Ryan Tedder, who became fast friends with Governor John Hickenlooper after the band played on Hick’s inauguration night. (Tedder consequently endorsed Hickenlooper for re-election and shot a video ad with the guv.) When Tedder needed a hook for the video piece with the song “I Lived,” he called his buddy in the governor’s mansion.
The governor reached out to Jim Shmerling, CEO of Children’s Hospital Colorado to see if he had any inspirational stories to use. Dr. Shmerling referred Bryan. Bryan’s dad, Steve Warnecke, the senior vice president of Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation, wrote a poignant letter to Tedder and the deal was sealed.
“It all came together very quickly with a large Hollywood crew here on Sept. 1 and 2,” Steve said. “We supplied home videos of Bryan growing up. The song was written and recorded before Ryan Tedder and Bryan met but could not be more appropriate for the way that Bryan lives his life. He is an extraordinary human being. I live in awe of his courage and determination every single day. He inspires everyone around him and the entire staff of Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation. ”
During this year’s Courage Classic, a 1,065-mile bicycle ride through 46 Colorado towns over eight mountain passes, Bryan raised $300,000 for Children’s research into cystic fibrosis drugs. He did it without the function of one of the lobes of his right lung.
“Since the video was released…we have been overwhelmed with the responses,” Steve said. “Thousands of posts, tweets, e-mails, etc. of people moved to tears and inspired to live their lives more fully. Hundreds of notes from CF kids, adults, families and friends that were incredibly grateful to have their story told and the increased awareness for CF. Almost without exception, people were incredibly moved and thankful that OneRepublic would use their great talent to tell such an inspirational story.”
Check out the video starring this remarkable young man at www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0rxydSolwU.
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