Donations for this year's Walk N' Roll for ALS

[Pictured: My father and brother in the early 90s; we have now lost them both to ALS.] 

 
Every year, ALS of Michigan hosts a series of Walk n’ Roll events designed to help raise awareness and donations for people with ALS and their families. I am raising donations for the ALS of Michigan this year.
 
I went to my first Walk N’ Roll several months after my father passed away from the disease. The next year, we walked (and rolled) with the knowledge that my brother had been diagnosed and was now wheelchair bound. This year, we will walk again, just over a month after I saw my brother take his last breaths. 
 
ALS of Michigan is an essential organization to Michiganders diagnosed with this horrible disease. The association provides many difference services–from clinics to providing respite care to loaning out extremely important medical equipment that is sometimes not covered by insurance or simply takes too long to be processed by insurance companies to be of use to someone with ALS.

Please donate to this year’s Walk N’ Roll for ALS through my donation page.  I would like to raise as much as I can this year in honor of my brother.

There is no cure. There is no significant treatment. But you can make a difference by helping ALS of Michigan give people with ALS a better quality of life.

Fundraising For My Brother's Battle with ALS

Photo: My awesome brother and his equally awesome (and adorable) daughter

Please consider a donation through GoFundMe to help my brother, who was recently diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease), and his family.

In the spring of 2012, my family was hit with a devastating blow: my father was diagnosed with ALS, a degenerative and incurable disease that we found out runs in our family. He passed away less than a year later, in April of 2013.

Just over a year after my father's death, we are dealing with another heartbreak: my older brother was recently diagnosed with ALS, the same disease that took our father from us.

My brother is a new husband to a caring wife and father to three children, two amazing boys and a loving daughter who was born just in time to meet her grandfather.

ALS takes away a person's ability to perform everyday functions that many people take for granted. Because of the disease's progress, my brother is unable to work and his family is now struggling to cover the costs of their everyday necessities as well as rising medical costs not covered by their insurance.  

Please consider making a donation at our GoFundMe page to help my brother and his family during this incredibly difficult time. All donations will be used to cover necessary household expenses (including rent, electricity/water/utility bills, and food) as well as medical expenses which are not being covered by my brother's health insurance.

Any donation you can spare will be sincerely appreciated.

Thank you for reading.

ALS of Michigan's 2013 Walk n' Roll for ALS

Please consider making a donation to ALS of Michigan in honor of my father in this year’s Walk n’ Roll for ALS.

A year before my father’s death in April of 2013—this was two months before his diagnosis with ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease— he had been getting around on just fine on crutches, laughing, eating, and talking about what he would do that summer when his leg was better.

Two years before, he was running around with his grandchildren, enjoying his new retirement, and yelling at our cat for the umpteenth time to “get down from that counter!”

Ten years before, he was working hard to support his family while dealing with the drama of raising two teenagers.

Twenty years before, he was carrying me around on his shoulders, watching me try my hardest at a kiddy ballet class, and taking all the kids for ice cream when it was warm enough to wear shorts. (Which, in Michigan, is 60 degrees—we take what we can get!)

When my father died from ALS this spring, he was unable to talk, unable to breathe on his own, and unable to move anything more than his head and two of his fingers, which he could only lift about half an inch. If that. The only methods of communication we had were his facial expressions  and an alphabet board, which was more difficult than I could put into words. Watching my father lose his ability to talk, move and breathe is something that, even today, I am unable to comprehend.

There is no cure for ALS. There are no treatments known to significantly impact the progression of the disease or its symptoms. As the disease progresses, most people diagnosed with ALS will require round-the-clock care, medical equipment, and a medical support team. Even simple tasks, like going to the bathroom or brushing their teeth or getting from a bed to a chair, can become monumental and frustrating tasks. This is doubly true if important medical equipment, like patient lifts and wheelchairs, are not in the home.

ALS of Michigan provides essential benefits  to people diagnosed with ALS and their families. Without the work of ALS of Michigan, thousands of people diagnosed with the disease may go without equipment, medical support and mental support that can make their life easier, more comfortable and just a little fuller after diagnosis. Even the little things, like being able to be moved to a favorite chair for an afternoon, can make a huge difference in the quality of someone’s life.

This fall, I will be participating in the annual ALS of Michigan “Walk n’ Roll for ALS,” which benefits ALS of Michigan and the many people that it supports. I am hoping to raise $200 (or more!) to help this organization continue to provide the essential services to those diagnosed with this disease, their families, and their friends. 

Please consider making a donation in memory of my late father, who impacted more people than I think he could ever know, and in honor of everyone who is currently struggling with this terrible disease. Myself and my family would be incredibly grateful for anything you can give to help support ALS of Michigan in their work to make life easier for anyone affected by ALS.