My experience at the 2013 MS Walk

It has taken me a while to write this update following the walk because I had a few unexpected feelings during the event this year. This year as every year I participated in the MS Walk in Waco. My friend was diagnosed several years ago with MS and since I moved out of Waco I had not seen her in several months.
The MS walk for me at least had always been a time of fellowship and fun for the children. There were also typically new medications being shared and information for participants. Over the past few years the walk has been less exciting with fewer activities and fewer vendors. This year the walk took place on the same day as two other events and on a rather dreary day.
Though I was very excited to reunite with my team I realized that I had not seen my friend having a flare up in a while and was unprepared for it. I had been communicating with her over the months leading up to the race and she never mentioned her health status. Her mother informed me of just how it had been going for her and I was very shocked. Basically I had been hoping that regardless of what I knew of the disease process that it would totally skip my friend. So I spent the day being slapped in the face by my friend's mortality. As I watched her be unable to walk the entire route due to a flare up and an injured ankle, then being helped across the finish line by her husband and mother I almost cried.
Denial is such a beautiful liar. As long as I no longer see my friend every day at work and do not have to see the waxes and wanes of the disease being handled by her medication and body, I can pretend that she is doing fine. In my dream world she is not having anymore flare ups and in fact the disease is deciding to leave her alone all together.
Reality though is a mean slap in the face of hard work. My friend is fighting the disease every day. She is pushing through the pain and limitations to raise her two children and enjoy life with her husband. She is negotiating high drug prices and suffering if there is a fluctuation that requires her to go without. She is actively raising funds and advocating for a cure not just for herself but for those she has met with MS and those she will never meet. She is setting a wonderful example for her little girls of what a strong woman looks like and what she does.
So while I was feeling sad for my friend and sorry for myself I was missing the whole point. A dreary day and a small turnout does not diminish the hard work that we all did to raise funds and raise awareness. Every day we raise funds, post on Facebook, and tell our friends/coworkers about the event there is that much more of a chance that a new person will become invested in our cause.



Here is a short video of the walk

 

Below are a few photos that represent the walk for me.

I wore this every day until the walk as a reminder

The reason I walk

Hubbard's Crusaders


I am participating in a sponsored campaign hosted by Advil®, as part of the Advil® Relief in Action campaign. I received compensation for this post. While all opinions stated are my own, I make no claims about Advil® as a product or its effectiveness.

 

Perseverance in action DWTS- Part 2

This season on Dancing with the Stars some of us met Valerie Harper for the first time. I personally remember her from her time on the Mary Tyler Moore show and her spin-off Rhoda. (What can I say I was a little adult as a child). What I found inspiring and captivating about her was that she had very recently been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and had been given only months to live.


Source office.com

I was inspired by the fact that she continued to smile and enjoy life. Not only was she going about life as usual but she was also trying something new for her by participating in the DWTS competition. I know that the contest is supposed to be about dance ability but I don't know how you can judge someones dancing without taking into consideration what they go through to dance (if you are privy to this). Valerie discussed symptoms from the cancer on the show. In an article on FoxNews an expert explained that "Symptoms can vary from headaches and difficulty walking to double vision and facial weakness or weakness or numbness of arms or legs, depending on which areas of the body are most affected".

One of the most wonderful dances I have seen was performed by a little girl that had been involved in a car accident that resulted in a traumatic brain injury. She had formerly been a competitive dancer with Starbound Talent Competition being one of her competition stops. She has a recurring dance at each competition and the last time that I saw her dance it brought tears to my eyes. It was not the ability of her dance but the improbability. The fact that she could have perished in that car and walks with the assistance of mobility devices and she STILL dances.

It is all about perseverance in the face of massive adversity. What would you do if diagnosed with a terminal brain cancer? Some would slip into a depression, avoid the diagnosis, some would stay in the hospital searching for a cure, others would check off their bucket list. Valerie decided to give us all hope. When she spoke with People Magazine following the DWTS finale she gave her reason for doing the show "to tell people to keep moving – even if you don't get the steps, keep on moving, one foot in front of the other, as best you can".

Thank you Valerie.


I am participating in a sponsored campaign hosted by Advil®, as part of the Advil® Relief in Action campaign. I received compensation for this post. While all opinions stated are my own, I make no claims about Advil® as a product or its effectiveness.

Button wreath

This summer while bored due to a lack of work; I came up with the idea of putting all of those buttons I've collected over the years on display. I thought a wreath would be a good way to do this. I finally got around to finishing this tonight.

You need: 

1. Collected buttons
2. Wreath (your choice size)
3. Hot glue 
4. Scissors
5. Ribbon (I used three different patterns)

First I decided which ribbon would be the base and planned out the desired outcome. I then attached one ribbon to be used to hang the wreath. I then began placing the base ribbon and attaching the smaller pins. I left some ribbon hanging for the bigger buttons. I looped the ribbon around for these. Once finished I went back around gluing a new ribbon around the wreath. The biggest button I placed in the middle using the two colored  ribbons. I went through a third time to fill the majority of the holes. 

Voila!

Now that it is done I realize how much of a snap shot into my life it is. My two alma maters are represented (Tarleton & Baylor), groups I belong/ed to, my favorite resturant, my passions (dance/social work), and one of the greatest trips I've taken.

Super cool. Have a great holiday!

Personalized hand made gift

I love crafting but I struggle at time to make things others like.

Each year I think long and hard about what to get for my grandmothers. This year I happened about a gift idea on BHG.com and then found a great bible quote that fit them. I used foam core board, colorful tissue paper, recycled a dog calender, some scrapbook paper, scissors, stencils, and craft glue. I traced all the letters, then cut them out (this step took so much longer than I thought it would), I then outlined the board with the tissue paper. I used the craft glue to affix the letters.

To make sure things lined up right I started placing the letters at the bottom and from the last letter first. I worked my way up until I was complete. Once framed I think this is a gift that my grandmother's will enjoy displaying and I was glad to make. Hopefully this will be a win win.

A personal prospective of MS

What is ms like for those with the disease?

Last week during a routine Facebook browsing I happened upon a post from my friend. It made me for a second feel more like I can understand how she feels daily. What must it truly be like to lose control of your motor skills? I hope that I will never know myself, but knowing that a dear friend experiences this makes me ache for a cure for this disease.

In a month full of reminders to support breast cancer taking over every media outlet, I feel this cause is being overlooked. I agree that giving and researching for a cure for breast cancer is a very worthy cause but I don't want the others to be forgotten. I work with people living with HIV/AIDS and I want very much to eliminate the amount of people contracting and passing the disease. I also want a cure for MS so that people don't have to experience the above. Just as much as I want to have all children that are removed from their families in loving foster/adopt homes or going back to repaired families.

My point in this is there are many causes that deserve attention. For me, especially this month, MS is first and foremost on my mind. The MS walk in Waco is this weekend and I am looking forward to the comradere everyone looking for a cure. 

Please consider giving to my MS walk fundraising efforts by clicking here

I am participating in a sponsored campaign hosted by Advil®, as part of the Advil® Relief in Action campaign. I received compensation for this post. While all opinions stated are my own, I make no claims about Advil® as a product or its effectiveness.

Perseverance in Action on DWTS- Part 1

If you have been watching Dancing with the Stars this year you may know that there are two contestants that are overcoming health conditions to fight for the title. I want to talk about one of those contestants in this blog...Jack Osbourne.

 Jack, like the friend I raise funds for, was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. His diagnosis came in 2012. He experienced blindness in one eye, problems with his bowels, numbness in his legs, issues with his bladder and stomach. According to Wikipedia he currently treats himself daily for the disease by injecting MS medication which I know through my friend is often steroids.

"He has also made lifestyle changes, such as minimizing stress, exercising regularly and significantly altering his diet. However, he has spoken of his fear of a "rapid" decline and has admitted that his doctors have urged him to stop participating in highly intensive physical workout"

 

So the fact that each week he prepares extensively for challenging and physical dance routines is commendable. I think that it is a great testament to his choice to not let illness and pain keep him from his goals. I also think that no matter what challenges you face you should always strive to do new and exciting things.

 

When we were asked to initially do this campaign through Blogher for Advil it was presented to us as representing the ability to put pain aside and achieve your goals. When I saw that Jack was participating in this years DWTS competition I had to watch. I would have been applauding him regardless of his performance, but to my joy he has done quite well. He is really working hard to be a real competitor this year. I am encouraged by this and hopeful that a cure will be found so that he and my friend will have many more years to try new things and enjoy their families. 

Please consider giving to my MS walk fundraising efforts by clicking here

I am participating in a sponsored campaign hosted by Advil®, as part of the Advil® Relief in Action campaign. I received compensation for this post. While all opinions stated are my own, I make no claims about Advil® as a product or its effectiveness.

Quote about Relief in Action

As you may know from reading my last blog I am participating in a campaign to spread the word about releif in action. To me relief in action means not just identifying a need, but pitching in, in some way to bring relief to that identified need. For me I do this by avocating for laws that I believe will be a benefit for clients future or present, and by fundraising yearly to find a cure for MS.
 It took me a while to get involved in advocating to politicians, I mean it is such a pain to do. You have to research policies and what they are intended to do, you also have to apply this knowledge to your knowledge of your clients needs and how current policies impact them. So it wouldn't truly be relief in action if there was no action, when I can and when a proposed change to existing law is important enough I ACT!  This quote really highlights the idea of relief in action, the way I see it.

 "You can have everything in life that you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” - Zig Ziglar
I found this quote in a Daily Love email that I received a while back. If you are interested in reading more about this or subscribing you can find out more here .

Also if you are interested in other views on what Relief in Action means check out this blog .


I am participating in a sponsored campaign hosted by Advil®, as part of the Advil® Relief in Action campaign. I received compensation for this post. While all opinions stated are my own, I make no claims about Advil® as a product or its effectiveness.