The quilt exhibit is held in conjunction with the JT Walk and Beach Party to raise funds for Hopes & Dream Quilts 4 a Cure. Kathy Thompson, CEO of Quilters Dream Batting, knows the heartbreak and frustration of the ALS disease. Her son Josh was cut down in the prime of his life. This handsome young father of two who was a fantastic surfer was reduced to breathing through a ventilator. He couldn't even scratch his own nose. His mom and wife and everyone who loves them jumped in to find a treatment and a cure. The resulting fundraisers have been record setting. Don't tell any mother that she can't protect or help her child. No matter what age they are!
Kathy and her company have put together one of the most dynamic quilt challenges, now in its third year, I believe. My how time flies. In addition, she has added this exhibit to be held:
Sunday October 9
10am - 6pm
Hilton 2nd Floor Ballroom
31st Street and Atlantic Ave. Virginia Beach, VA
Open to the Public
View quilts from around the world donated to help raise money to find a cure for ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease).
Children's and Babies Quilts....Modern Quilts....Art Quilts...Traditional Quilts...Holiday Quilts
Quilts of all shapes, sizes & colors!
All proceeds from the sale of quilts goes directly to the ALS Association research initiiatives.
Remember...Quilts make wonderful gifts & purchase of our quilts is Tax Deductible. Quilts will also be available for sale October 8- 27at the Richard Stravitz Gallery 1217 Laskin Rd, Virginia Beach 23451.
Please help us find a cure for
Josh & all ALS patients.
Thank you,
Josh's Mom - Kathy Thompson & Josh's Grandmother - 'Mimi' Kelly
Founders of the Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS
http://www.quiltersdreambatting.com/
Toll Free 888-268-8664
Quilts are also accepted for the ongoing quilt challenge to be used in other fundraisers and to give to ALS patients.
As many of you know my husband, Derrol, has ALS. He has a slower progressing form of the disease than Josh, but it is creeping through his body. And like Josh, there is no treatment. There is no cure. 100 percent of ALS patients -- die.
 |
| Derrol on his way to work in his Invacare power chair and his van and hydraulic lift. Thank God his employer is willing to work with him and his job is such that he can do it with a few assistive devices. |
We pray for a treatment or a cure or both!
I can't imagine life without my Derrol, and I don't want to! I know alot of you have lost loved ones --sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, husbands and wives to all manner of diseases.
ALS is a neuromuscular disease that has close ties to some other nasties that we'd like to eradicate -- Alzheimer's Disease; Parkinson's Disease; Muscular Dystrophy.... It is likened to being buried alive in a coffin -- his body is the coffin.
I hope you'll help us try to stop the dying.
2 comments:
Muscular Dystrophy is a term that applies to many different neuromuscular diseases that effect both adults and children. Nearly all are inherited diseases. ALS is different as no inherited base has been discovered and essentially is a wasting away of muscles. In this disease the internal muscles become affected as the disease advances. Only in Myatonic Dystrophy is the brain effected. I worked for MDA many years ago.
Thanks Monica. I know in UK the term Muscular Dystrophy or MD covers a broad spectrum of diseases. In the US we tend to break them down using different terminology. I must disagree with your assessment that ALS is not inherited. IT IS. It is called Familial ALS and it is documented. About 3 percent maybe as high as 10 percent of people who are diagnosed with ALS have familial ALS. That is what runs in my husband's family. Wasting away of muscles sounds so benign. It is not. Yes they waste. It is the voluntary muscles that are affected. And it is a painful process involving not only muscle cramps, but also jabs from nerve endings and profound tightening at times of muscles for no reason. It also comes and goes in that what works today may be weak tomorrow and strong the next day. But it never totally reverses. It also spreads through the body so quickly in most cases that by the end of the first year the person is unable to use arms and legs and by the end of the second year cannot move at all and are on a ventilator. Some live as long as six years, but depending on how the disease strikes the body, it can be as quickly as one year from perfectly healthy to paralyzed and dead. There is much to ALS that most people do not know until they must live with it. We are thankful that Derrol has a slow progressing form of the disease. VERY thankful. I don't know how people can deal with such fast devastation. Husbands seem to have a particularly hard time watching their wives die little by little before their eyes. And as in Derrol's brother's case, he was diagnosed with a neuromuscular disease at age 10 and died at 18 at a time when an accurate diagnosis was nearly impossible and the techniques for helping him live more comfortably were not in place.
Post a Comment