2008.
This is the year my eyes were opened to a horrific disease. Surprisingly I had never been exposed to even the name of this disease before this year. My exposure at the time was quite limited as it came from the meeting of a new friend and his father gone from this earth a year earlier. All no thanks to ALS. So for me I was not directly exposed to the disease but only its aftermath. The sadness and grey it left in its path, that’s what I came to know. But, it was this friend’s sorrow, that was all I wanted to know. I was and still am scared of this disease and how it creeps up in an instant and once you have it your only thought I can imagine is ‘this is all I am now.’
For me it seems like such an over powering disease and it leaves you without hope as there is no cure, only waiting. Like the DMV… just sitting there miserably for what feels like forever just waiting for your number to be called. You don’t know when it will come up but you know eventually that little glorious ding will sound and your number will be shown and in that moment your misery will be over. In that instant, after your number has been called, all your misery and pain of enduring what seemed like endless torture is gone.
2008 opened my eyes none the less and not to pretty things but to things that scared the living shit out of me {pardon my language}. It opened my eyes and I wanted to help. I wanted to do something to change this. Now I knew I could not take my friends pain away, that he already had to carry and cope with. But I could help honor his father and what they had to go through by walking in an event for ALSA called Walk to Defeat ALS. This was doable so I was all in and ready to walk for his team Dave’s Defenders in memory of his father. This event was so breathtaking and such an amazing day that literally opened my eyes even more so than they were before. It was this day that I saw just about everyone I knew coming together to memorialize or honor fathers, friends, brothers, sisters, grandparents, what have you. It was in this moment I realized this was no small matter. This disease that scared me more than anything in life to this day affected more that just my friend’s father and his family. I learned of 2 other friends that day that were also dealing with the heartache of watching family members capitulate to ALS. Not only that but Autumn’s Great Grandfather also was taken by ALS…not so foreign anymore was it. This became important to me at this point.
Seeing friends hurting and having to go through the endless suffering of watching their loved ones deteriorate draws up a sadness inside of me that I did not know I had. This is something that is so unimaginable for me. I just cannot fathom my soul ever being strong enough to bear a heartache so immense. The fact that they are going through it all or have went through it all and can still manage a smile across their face blows my mind. Each of them contain more courage and strength in their souls than I can ever hope to have one day. God bless them for their hardships. It makes me feel ashamed to become stressed over my miniscule problems day-to-day.
With all of this being said it brings us to this point we are at now. I want you to know the background of how this walk affects me. This is why I do it, because I want to help ease a little pain that ALS brings into the homes of friends…family…people I do not know. I want to do what I can to support the LaMontagnes, the Nicholsons, the McHughs, and the Thompsons of this world and pray selfishly that this is the only way I come to know ALS. It does not happen over night but it wont happen at all if people do not help the progress and bring light to this disease. The ALSA helps so many people’s lives that have been overcome by ALS in so many ways. They enhance the quality of life, they give hope, ..they search for treatments and cures and with our support they can only go further in their mission to find a cure and give the hopeless what they thought they never again would have…Hope.
I have attached the link to my personal Walk to Defeat ALS page where you can learn more about ALS. If you feel like throwing a few dollars out towards ALS you can also do so there but please do not feel obligated. If only one person becomes more aware and educated of this disease like I have then I feel I have done my job. Thank you so sincerely for taking time to read this. Remember to look around you, ALS may be affecting someone you know as well. It was not until I looked around myself then realized how common this disease actually can be. Scary thought.
{A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles}
{love loudly.}
