Walk To Defeat ALS
Bear with me on the length of this post, but I think it's important to communicate this.
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Howdy folks! It's my turn to beg now, and I really need everyone's help. Since we've announced the Walk, we had close to 30 people sign up, and the Team has already raised almost $1500! Recently, I went to the office of the ALS Association of Georgia, located near Emory in a small business park. We were picking up yet another tool to aid in my caretaking. The way it works is they have an Equipment Loaner Closet. You may keep the equipment (wheelchairs, walkers, stair chairs, etc.) as long as you need them, and when you can't use the items anymore, you return the equipment to the ALSA. I wanted to show you complete list of the items and value that they have lent me so far:
Transport Chair - $200
Roller Walker - $100
StairLift - $1600
Special Pajamas - $400
Bidet Seat - $1000 (Sad as it is, I need one)
Loaner Power wheelchair (until mine is delivered) - $8000
Aluminum Wheelchair Ramp - $300
And that is just the first six months of diagnosis! Most of these items were new, but several have been used by previous patients. When I was first diagnosed, I was floored by the projected costs for all of these necessary items. all I kept thinking was "My family is going to go broke just trying to take care of me!" Then the Association contacted me and told me they would provide me with many of these items at no cost. You can imagine my relief.
This Walk means a lot to me, since organizing things is one of the few things that I can still do. So please consider walking with us. To at least have the opportunity at scaring the locals into thinking that DragonCon is HAPPENING AGAIN!!!! ;)
(Late X-Posting, you may have already seen it...)
Chris and I have started a team for the annual Walk to Defeat ALS, sponsored by the ALS Association of Georgia. This is the big fundraiser for ALS, since we don't have a telethon, and I wanted to put our own Geeky spin on the event:
It's common to have people dress up for the walk, but I don't think they've been inundated with full-on geek cosplayers yet! Imagine if we had whole casts of movies and shows marching?
The walk is Saturday, November 8th in Centennial Park in downtown Atlanta. Registration opens at 8:30 AM, and the Walk starts at 10 AM. The walk isn't long, only 5k, which most can complete in an hour. Heck, the DragonCon Parade is probably more of an effort than this!
We would really appreciate people turning out for this event. The ALS Association has been a lifesaver in these past months. They provide counseling and equipment loaning for families with ALS. They have provided me with a roller-walker, a stair-chair and wheelchair, without which I would have been shut in and practically stranded upstairs in the house. The people are so very nice and helpful, and they seriously need your help. Just a few people are staffed for the whole state of Georgia, and they have to drive this equipment from their Atlanta headquarters to ALS patients from Savannah to the border of Alabama-stan, and you can imagine what that costs in gas these days.
So please consider joining us in the walk, or donating to sponsor Me. If you know anything about us, you can bet there will be lots of fun hanging out afterward, so it won't be just a 1-hour deal.
Join Fiver's Team and Walk with us! (Select "Fiver's Team" from the drop-down menu on the page and register)
OR:
Make a donation to Sponsor Melissa in her walk. (And remember: Talk to the HR Department at your workplaces! They often will match your donations!)
Thanks to everybody that has helped so far, and we'll have more details on the walk later.
---
Howdy folks! It's my turn to beg now, and I really need everyone's help. Since we've announced the Walk, we had close to 30 people sign up, and the Team has already raised almost $1500! Recently, I went to the office of the ALS Association of Georgia, located near Emory in a small business park. We were picking up yet another tool to aid in my caretaking. The way it works is they have an Equipment Loaner Closet. You may keep the equipment (wheelchairs, walkers, stair chairs, etc.) as long as you need them, and when you can't use the items anymore, you return the equipment to the ALSA. I wanted to show you complete list of the items and value that they have lent me so far:
Transport Chair - $200
Roller Walker - $100
StairLift - $1600
Special Pajamas - $400
Bidet Seat - $1000 (Sad as it is, I need one)
Loaner Power wheelchair (until mine is delivered) - $8000
Aluminum Wheelchair Ramp - $300
And that is just the first six months of diagnosis! Most of these items were new, but several have been used by previous patients. When I was first diagnosed, I was floored by the projected costs for all of these necessary items. all I kept thinking was "My family is going to go broke just trying to take care of me!" Then the Association contacted me and told me they would provide me with many of these items at no cost. You can imagine my relief.
This Walk means a lot to me, since organizing things is one of the few things that I can still do. So please consider walking with us. To at least have the opportunity at scaring the locals into thinking that DragonCon is HAPPENING AGAIN!!!! ;)
(Late X-Posting, you may have already seen it...)
Chris and I have started a team for the annual Walk to Defeat ALS, sponsored by the ALS Association of Georgia. This is the big fundraiser for ALS, since we don't have a telethon, and I wanted to put our own Geeky spin on the event:
It's common to have people dress up for the walk, but I don't think they've been inundated with full-on geek cosplayers yet! Imagine if we had whole casts of movies and shows marching?
The walk is Saturday, November 8th in Centennial Park in downtown Atlanta. Registration opens at 8:30 AM, and the Walk starts at 10 AM. The walk isn't long, only 5k, which most can complete in an hour. Heck, the DragonCon Parade is probably more of an effort than this!
We would really appreciate people turning out for this event. The ALS Association has been a lifesaver in these past months. They provide counseling and equipment loaning for families with ALS. They have provided me with a roller-walker, a stair-chair and wheelchair, without which I would have been shut in and practically stranded upstairs in the house. The people are so very nice and helpful, and they seriously need your help. Just a few people are staffed for the whole state of Georgia, and they have to drive this equipment from their Atlanta headquarters to ALS patients from Savannah to the border of Alabama-stan, and you can imagine what that costs in gas these days.
So please consider joining us in the walk, or donating to sponsor Me. If you know anything about us, you can bet there will be lots of fun hanging out afterward, so it won't be just a 1-hour deal.
Join Fiver's Team and Walk with us! (Select "Fiver's Team" from the drop-down menu on the page and register)
OR:
Make a donation to Sponsor Melissa in her walk. (And remember: Talk to the HR Department at your workplaces! They often will match your donations!)
Thanks to everybody that has helped so far, and we'll have more details on the walk later.