Easton Blanchard is 8 years old and has congenital muscular dystrophy.

And in efforts to help Easton, the ASA Late Model Series donated a portion of its ticket sales form the Watermelon 100 race this weekend to the “Save Easton Fund.”

Easton is a third-grader at Twin Oaks Elementary in Lee County.

He was admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in Macon on Jan. 23, 2007, with abdominal pain. At first, he was being treated for constipation, but his condition deteriorated and on Jan. 25, he developed a “mid-gut vovulus.”

Since then he has had four surgeries with the last on Feb. 3, 2007. As a result of the vovulus he has four inches of his small intestine left and has both an ileostomy and jejunostomy. Because of the loss of small intestine, he has required a permanent IV catheter that was placed in his chest for long-term IV nutrition.

Easton started a week-long journey in Pennsylvania at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh on Nov. 5, 2007. During his stay, he met with a team of experts that consisted of specialists in clinical nutrition, infectious diseases, gastroenterology, nursing, radiology, pediatric surgery and transplant surgery.

This approach enabled Intestinal Care Center (ICC) to evaluate and assess needs for each individual. After proving the case, Easton made the national list.

For more information go to www.saveeaston.com.