Keith walked away from that tear-filled conversation in disbelief. Our friend, Jeff, a 38 year old husband and father of 3 young children, athletic, outgoing, funny as all get out, extremely active in our community in Little League and as a member of the school board, was diagnosed with ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.
Have you known anyone with ALS? I hadn't until then. I don't think any of us were prepared for how quickly the disease would invade Jeff's life. And his family's. It is a horrible, horrible, horrible disease. With no cure. Yet. Last weekend we participated in an ALS walk at Citizen's Bank Park as part of the "Bases for Brown" team.
Jeff's team raised more money then any other team there. And there was a second team there in his honor, too. He works for Campbell Soup, and they had a team named "Red and White for Brown". It was amazing to see the support there for him. But then, I wasn't surprised, really. He is a great friend to a lot of people.
There were many, many other people there, too. And many of them walked for loved ones already gone.
What I saw was a lot of people needing praying for, but also a lot of prayers of thanks for the love and support that surrounded them that day. Pray for Jeff. Pray for his wife, Janet and their 3 beautiful children. Thanks.
Aloha. I stumbled upon your blog, and was impressed by what you and others were willing to do for a great community leader and supporter. I, too tend to get very involved. We also have another thing in common trying to lose weight. I weigh 320 pounds. I really enjoy your blog. Please, visit mine and tell me what you think maybe we can inspire each other!
ReplyDeleteMuch aloha!