Happy, that's how I feel after today, sounds simple but that is really the feeling so I guess it is that simple. I am smiling as I write this because our Fiesta 5k for ALS research at the Packard Center in Baltimore, MD was a success! Smiling because I am happy, but also because I never stop being amazed at how things turn out. I had this vision of what this Fiesta 5k was going to be like, you know how you plan for something that you know is a great idea and you have a picture of what it will be like in your head...I recruited a team (of about 20 some people), Bert and I came up with a name, my sister manned the facebook page for donations, race day would come and all of us in our new team t-shirts would walk together Bert at my side, breakfast after...the perfect day! The vision wasn't exactly the same as the reality, but it was still the most perfect day!
My team started to fall apart with Bert (he was the star of the show in my vision). When Bert agreed to do the 5k he thought that my son's soccer game would be in the afternoon and we would have plenty of time to do the 5k and get to soccer in time, by the way he is the coach. The game was scheduled for 10am. At first he was just going to send Alex to the game and he was going to do the 5k, but as the date approached I knew he really wanted to be coaching soccer and I decided that if you have ALS and you are still coaching soccer thats pretty good and I should just be grateful and thank God and let him coach soccer. So, I let him off the hook and told him to go to the game. Slowly over the past week I lost more of my team, to travel problems, and medical issues, and we were down to my sister, her husband, and their twins and my mom and Sophia and me. Then I received an email.
I received an email from a gentleman who had joined our team online, I had seen his name earlier and was not sure who he was and thought it might have been a mistake...maybe he was a friend of my sisters and was just donating. It was no mistake. The gentleman was writing to let me know he joined our team because he felt a connection with my family. His mother had passed of ALS, she sounded like a wonderful woman, just my kind of girl...he said she golfed, played tennis, and was active at church and socially, he said she stayed positive and kept her faith. This gentleman explained that he followed the acronym H.O.P.E. helping other people everywhere, he said he thought this applied to Bert and me. He wanted to know would I mind if he joined us for the race. I did not hesitate, I said sure we would love it if he joined us. I was glad to hear of another inspiring person touched by ALS who kepted their faith and didn't let the disease dictate their life, I was feeling like his mother would have been proud. Bert was already planning to drive Sophia and me to Baltimore the evening before the race so I invited our new friend to meet us.
We arrived Friday in Baltimore with my family and my mom, we met up with my sister and her family and then met our new friend. We had a nice dinner and headed back to the hotel. We took some pictures with Bert and Alex in our team shirts, and then they returned home to go to soccer in the morning and the rest of us went to bed to be ready bright and early for the 5k. Around 6am the phone rang, it was my sister she was calling to tell us she had been vomiting all night with the stomach bug. No way was she going to be able to go walk a 5k. We decided my mom should probably stay behind and help my brother in law with the babies and take care of my poor sister. Sophia and I were on our own, off to find our only other teammate. My vision of 20 something had turned into three. We got to the start and as we were looking for our third teammate, I heard someone call my name. It was another gentleman who recognized our shirts and he also had registered for our team. He was a friend of my sister in law from high school. He introduced himself, he also felt as though he wanted to support us and help raise money for research for ALS. I was inspired by his thoughtfulness and motivated by all the teams that were around us supporting people they love who were fighting ALS. Everyone seemed to be wearing a team shirt for someone and all those someones were brave, positive, amazing people looking a terrible disease in the face and saying you will not beat me. All these runners and walkers were there to support and fight also. Race day had not turned out like my vision, but I had my strong team of four, Sophia and I in our team t-shirts and all our friends and family at home supporting us including Bert and Alex who were on the soccer field. The horn blew to start the race and we were off.
Baltimore is a beautiful city, I feel an attachment to it because the people that care for us at the Johns Hopkins ALS clinic are there. I feel a sense of hope within the clinic and the Packard Center. I felt hope as we ran through the streets, people cheering from the sidewalks, everyone running for someone and a common goal, to rid the earth of this disease. We could not have asked for a more beautiful morning, mild and clear, that run felt different to me. My daughter and I have run many 5ks together, she is 11 years old and can get whiny sometimes, too hot, too cold, or too thirsty. Not today, today was different, she ran smooth and steady, she did not complain once, she was determined, her stride even and long. She was a few feet in front of me, focused. With our new friends beside us we ran through the streets of Baltimore for all those people living with ALS who want to run but are unable to, for everyone who has fought and is fighting this disease and their families. Sophia ended up in front of me with the gentleman who had emailed me...she finished a little before me and was cheering for me at the finish. I was proud of my daughter, she ran for her dad, she wore a pin with his picture, she ran hard and got her best time. We thanked our team, said our goodbyes and then Sophia wanted to go back and cheer and encourage others who were still running so we did.
Before we left the race Sophia wanted to check her time and as we were waiting to see the list of times hanging on the wall, a woman came up to me and introduced herself. She recognized our logo on our shirts from facebook. Her father had recently been diagnosed with ALS, her family was also taken care of by Johns Hopkins. We had met virtually on facebook in a caregiver group, I was actually praying for her father and her family. I was happy to put a face to my prayers, I worry with so many prayers God may get confused on who I am talking about, especially since I have so many ALS friends on facebook. I know God knows everything and everyone but still that is a lot to remember and I say a lot of prayers lately. I was happy to meet her and her family, her son and husband had run the 5k. As we said our goodbyes she and her husband said they were thinking of our family through this fight and wished us well. All of us in the fight against ALS are fighting together, rooting for eachother, hoping, praying, keeping the faith. Bert and I have talked many times about how we want research to find something, a cure, a treatment, not just for us but for every single person and their families fighting this disease. I hope the people who root for us realize just how much it means to us and know that we are behind them all the way!
My Fiesta 5k was a little different than my vision, but it was perfect all the same. Our little team raised $2,000, double our goal, and we ran hard, strangers, now friends bonded together by ALS. I hate to keep giving this disease credit for anything, but I did make a deal with God when this all started and he has never let me down, my family keeps getting stronger and I keep finding positives along the way. Thank you God, for never letting me down, and thank you as always to everyone for all the donations, support, prayers, keeping the faith, and hope.
Faith ~ it does not make things easy it makes them possible. Luke 1:37
xoxo Jennifer
My team started to fall apart with Bert (he was the star of the show in my vision). When Bert agreed to do the 5k he thought that my son's soccer game would be in the afternoon and we would have plenty of time to do the 5k and get to soccer in time, by the way he is the coach. The game was scheduled for 10am. At first he was just going to send Alex to the game and he was going to do the 5k, but as the date approached I knew he really wanted to be coaching soccer and I decided that if you have ALS and you are still coaching soccer thats pretty good and I should just be grateful and thank God and let him coach soccer. So, I let him off the hook and told him to go to the game. Slowly over the past week I lost more of my team, to travel problems, and medical issues, and we were down to my sister, her husband, and their twins and my mom and Sophia and me. Then I received an email.
I received an email from a gentleman who had joined our team online, I had seen his name earlier and was not sure who he was and thought it might have been a mistake...maybe he was a friend of my sisters and was just donating. It was no mistake. The gentleman was writing to let me know he joined our team because he felt a connection with my family. His mother had passed of ALS, she sounded like a wonderful woman, just my kind of girl...he said she golfed, played tennis, and was active at church and socially, he said she stayed positive and kept her faith. This gentleman explained that he followed the acronym H.O.P.E. helping other people everywhere, he said he thought this applied to Bert and me. He wanted to know would I mind if he joined us for the race. I did not hesitate, I said sure we would love it if he joined us. I was glad to hear of another inspiring person touched by ALS who kepted their faith and didn't let the disease dictate their life, I was feeling like his mother would have been proud. Bert was already planning to drive Sophia and me to Baltimore the evening before the race so I invited our new friend to meet us.
We arrived Friday in Baltimore with my family and my mom, we met up with my sister and her family and then met our new friend. We had a nice dinner and headed back to the hotel. We took some pictures with Bert and Alex in our team shirts, and then they returned home to go to soccer in the morning and the rest of us went to bed to be ready bright and early for the 5k. Around 6am the phone rang, it was my sister she was calling to tell us she had been vomiting all night with the stomach bug. No way was she going to be able to go walk a 5k. We decided my mom should probably stay behind and help my brother in law with the babies and take care of my poor sister. Sophia and I were on our own, off to find our only other teammate. My vision of 20 something had turned into three. We got to the start and as we were looking for our third teammate, I heard someone call my name. It was another gentleman who recognized our shirts and he also had registered for our team. He was a friend of my sister in law from high school. He introduced himself, he also felt as though he wanted to support us and help raise money for research for ALS. I was inspired by his thoughtfulness and motivated by all the teams that were around us supporting people they love who were fighting ALS. Everyone seemed to be wearing a team shirt for someone and all those someones were brave, positive, amazing people looking a terrible disease in the face and saying you will not beat me. All these runners and walkers were there to support and fight also. Race day had not turned out like my vision, but I had my strong team of four, Sophia and I in our team t-shirts and all our friends and family at home supporting us including Bert and Alex who were on the soccer field. The horn blew to start the race and we were off.
Baltimore is a beautiful city, I feel an attachment to it because the people that care for us at the Johns Hopkins ALS clinic are there. I feel a sense of hope within the clinic and the Packard Center. I felt hope as we ran through the streets, people cheering from the sidewalks, everyone running for someone and a common goal, to rid the earth of this disease. We could not have asked for a more beautiful morning, mild and clear, that run felt different to me. My daughter and I have run many 5ks together, she is 11 years old and can get whiny sometimes, too hot, too cold, or too thirsty. Not today, today was different, she ran smooth and steady, she did not complain once, she was determined, her stride even and long. She was a few feet in front of me, focused. With our new friends beside us we ran through the streets of Baltimore for all those people living with ALS who want to run but are unable to, for everyone who has fought and is fighting this disease and their families. Sophia ended up in front of me with the gentleman who had emailed me...she finished a little before me and was cheering for me at the finish. I was proud of my daughter, she ran for her dad, she wore a pin with his picture, she ran hard and got her best time. We thanked our team, said our goodbyes and then Sophia wanted to go back and cheer and encourage others who were still running so we did.
Before we left the race Sophia wanted to check her time and as we were waiting to see the list of times hanging on the wall, a woman came up to me and introduced herself. She recognized our logo on our shirts from facebook. Her father had recently been diagnosed with ALS, her family was also taken care of by Johns Hopkins. We had met virtually on facebook in a caregiver group, I was actually praying for her father and her family. I was happy to put a face to my prayers, I worry with so many prayers God may get confused on who I am talking about, especially since I have so many ALS friends on facebook. I know God knows everything and everyone but still that is a lot to remember and I say a lot of prayers lately. I was happy to meet her and her family, her son and husband had run the 5k. As we said our goodbyes she and her husband said they were thinking of our family through this fight and wished us well. All of us in the fight against ALS are fighting together, rooting for eachother, hoping, praying, keeping the faith. Bert and I have talked many times about how we want research to find something, a cure, a treatment, not just for us but for every single person and their families fighting this disease. I hope the people who root for us realize just how much it means to us and know that we are behind them all the way!
My Fiesta 5k was a little different than my vision, but it was perfect all the same. Our little team raised $2,000, double our goal, and we ran hard, strangers, now friends bonded together by ALS. I hate to keep giving this disease credit for anything, but I did make a deal with God when this all started and he has never let me down, my family keeps getting stronger and I keep finding positives along the way. Thank you God, for never letting me down, and thank you as always to everyone for all the donations, support, prayers, keeping the faith, and hope.
Faith ~ it does not make things easy it makes them possible. Luke 1:37
xoxo Jennifer
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