Leaning on Family

 This year’s marathon challenge has been one of the toughest in the last 18 years, both physically and mentally.  Coming off last year’s medical problems and the disappointment of not being able to run in the Boston Marathon I figured this year has got to be better.  It was not to be.  My body has never fully recovered from the kidney/sepsis setbacks and it appears to have advanced my Parkinson symptoms.   As a result I had to lean on my family even more this year to complete the challenge. Their response was overwhelming and heartwarming.

Have I mentioned I am blessed with 9 wonderful grandchildren?   The credit for that of course goes to their 6 loving parents (and I like to believe a modicum of credit from us grandparents).   Among the parents, all are athletes of accomplishment, 4 have run marathons and 2 have run the Boston Marathon with me.  It’s no surprise that the 4 oldest grandchildren are top runners on their school cross country team and the next youngest 2 while not old enough yet to join the school team, are also runners.  

All of them joined in to help me crank out the miles including the 3 and 5 year-olds who ran/walked with me for a mile (actually they would sprint ahead then stop and wait for me to catch up).  I don’t have words to express the joy of running with my grandkids, exchanging stories about school, friends, activities and sports.    Equally emotional was having the family gather in Nick’s memory to help children and their families struggling with cancer.  Who wouldn’t tear up when the 3 and 5 year-olds handed me their money from their Easter egg hunt to honor Nick and help the sick children.

 

Another Marathon Challenge in the books.   We met our family goal of 50 miles and God willing I will be out there again next year.   I am still in need of donations to meet this years goals, if you haven’t given yet we can use your help. 

As always, thank you for your support.

 

Running Like a Turtle

I was recently asked what it is like to run with Parkinson’s.  I wasn’t surprised by the question but I found myself struggling to come up with a good description.   Ultimately what came to mind was the movie Fifty First Dates.

Bear with me for a minute.  I’m not a big fan of Rom-Coms (Romantic Comedies).  The plots tend to be rote and predictable (boy meets girl, love at first sight or they hate each other, life either gets in the way or brings them together, then happily ever after).    The exception for me is Fifty First Dates.   In it Adam Sandler meets Drew Barrymore who has a traumatic brain injury that prevents her from creating new memories. Every day when she wakes up in her mind she is back before her accident.   And every day Adam must woo her all over again.

Running with Parkinson’s is kind of like that.   On many mornings when I get up, it feels like my body has forgotten how to move.   The muscle memory is still there but for some reason the brain can’t seem to find it.  Kind of like Alzheimer’s for the muscles.   Some days are better than others but every day requires some level of retraining to reestablish the connection between the brain and the muscles.   That translates into a lot of warm up and spending the first few miles reteaching the body how to move.   On the best days that connection gets reestablished but slower than an old dial up modem.   It doesn’t help that one side moves slower than the other making my running look more like a “zombie shuffle”. 

So, where are we on the Marathon Challenge?  Again this year I’ll be leaning on my family to help me complete the distance.   I haven’t recovered from last year’s kidney/sepsis challenges but I still have a few miles left in me and running/jogging/walking with my children and grandchildren is an inspiration for me.   That, and the help I get from all of you in supporting the children fighting cancer.  Their marathon is much more challenging than mine.

So, in two week I’ll be out there again, this time running like a turtle.

Putting a Face on it

Ever wonder when you contribute to a charity, where your money goes or what kind of an impact it has?  Instead of blogging about running this week I thought I’d pass a long some stories of the lives you’ve touched through your support of Help in the Nick of Time.

Help in the Nick of Time funds a number of efforts to help families that are struggling with childhood cancer.   The two biggest programs, executed in conjunction with our partner One Mission, are the Junior Good Box program and the Never Alone Fund. 

The Good Box program sends age-appropriate boxes of toys, games, crafts, and stuffed animals to the children in the midst of fighting cancer.  It is a treasure chest of joy and distraction when a child is dealing with the painful, boring, and isolating process of cancer treatment.

The Never Alone fund targets helping families deal with the unexpected and often devastating issue that come up during treatment.   This could be as simple as the treatment. funds for a babysitter so a single mom can leave a sibling home when going to the hospital or more critical like money for a parent’s place to stay near the hospital, or funds to fix that old car that’s the lifeline to get to the hospital and doctor visits.

This past year with your help we sent over 80 Good Boxes to children ranging in age from 1 to 18 and covering 31 states.   Almost half these children have Leukemia, one of most difficult forms of cancer.    The thank you notes from parents are heartwarming but these pictures tell the story even better.

 

The Never Alone fund was also busy this year, helping families facing difficult life situations while fighting cancer.  These included helping with car repairs to get back and forth to treatment, dealing with short term rental needs, and in one case helping a family who lost everything in a fire.

Hopefully this has helped put some faces and stories to what Help in the Nick of Time and One Mission are doing with what you contribute.  100% of what is raised goes to helping these families.  Your support will smooth out the bumps in the road for families and put smiles on the faces of children as they go about the task of fighting childhood cancer.   You should be proud.

The WHY Dilemma

Not too long ago I had a conversation with my 5-year-old grandson who has a particular affinity for the word “Why”.    I enjoy his unbound curiosity for understanding why things are the way they are, especially when that curiosity is not aimed at me.   It’s not that I mind answering the non-stop why questions, it’s more that I know when we are 4 “whys” deep on a topic I inevitably will reach a question that exceeds my knowledge base.   Take the following exchange from last fall:Me:  Let’s go blow the leaves off the lawn (he loves using tools)O: Why do we need to blow them off the lawn?

Me: So they won’t cause bare spots?

O: Why will they cause bare spots?

Me:  Because they will kill the grass.

O:  Why will they kill the grass?

Me: How about we take the dog for a walk instead.

There are several technics I’ve honed to get out of this cycle.  There’s the tried-and-true deflection…” Good question, ask your (dad, mom, grandma)”.  This works particularly well when they ask where babies come from.   Then there’s the distraction method…” oh, look at the time, I think Grandma has cookies waiting for us)”.  Finally, there is always the option to make up an answer.  I find these days kids beyond the age of 6 know how to check an answer with Alexa or Google so it’s best not to give an answer that leaves them with the impression you are becoming senile.

Over the holidays my 4-year-old granddaughter was watching me try to tie my running shoes and she asked me why my hand shakes and why my movements are so slow.   I panicked thinking I’m on the verge of a series of “whys” if I answer wrong might scare or confuse a 4-year-old.   I explained I had a sickness in my brain that makes it hard to do some things.  She thought about that for a bit and then asked “Does it hurt when you run”.  I told her it does sometimes.  Then she asked the big WHY…Why do you keep running?

It's a simple question with a very complex answer.  Is it because it’s what I’ve chosen to keep my memory of my son alive through Help in the Nick of Time fund raising?  Is it because I am stubborn and unwilling to let Parkinsons totally take running away from me?  Or maybe it’s because on the days I am able to get out and run, I feel better both mentally and physically afterwards.  For a short while I can push back against the disease.

Regardless of which reason (or maybe because of all of them) I am pounding the roads again this year to raise funds to help children battling pediatric cancer.  With your support last year, we were able to help even more children and their families at one of the worst moments in their life.  Despite the snow and ice (yes...8 inches of snow in VA) training continues.  Slow and steady.

Next blog I’ll pass along more details on the lives we’ve touched and the smiles we created.

Till next time…..

Doing the Dopey

Those of you who followed my blog last year may recall a blog I wrote asking the question…Why had the marathon become the “in” thing to do these days?   As an example, I used the Disney World Marathon where 10’s of thousands of people sign up a year in advance and pay hundreds of dollars to spend their vacation in “the happiest place on earth” subjecting themselves to the pain of a marathon.    The rational side of me would rather stay home, save hundreds of dollars, avoid all the travel hassles and save my vacation days for something a lot less painful.   For those looking for the “marathon experience” you can always just beat your legs with a rolling pin for an hour.

In reality I would do the Disney Marathon in a second if I could still run that far.  Instead, I was able to experience it through my daughter who ran her first marathon at Disney a week ago.   But running a marathon was not enough, she and her husband signed up for the “Dopey”.  Aptly named, the Dopey is a series of runs starting with a 5K (3.1 miles) on Thursday morning, a 10K (6.2 miles) on Friday, a half marathon (13.1 miles) on Saturday and then a full marathon on Sunday.   Checking my calculator, that’s 48.6 miles not counting all the walking miles in the parks after the runs.  To be fair, this not race, more of a social event.  As is Disney’s style, they set it up as a whole experience with creative medals, social activities, and pictures with Disney characters along the route.  During the marathon you can even stop to ride some the rides.

While there are no Dopeys or marathons in my future I will be doing my Marathon Challenge again this year.  As long as I can move, I plan to continue the programs to help children with cancer.  More on the “Help in the Nick of Time” programs and the Marathon Challenge to come.

In case you are wondering….yes my daughter and her husband did complete them all, even stopping for pictures and stopping for a ride in the park.  I’m very proud of them.  They got the medals and experience; I got to watch their children (I got the better deal).