My Freakin Opinion

There has been quite a bit of banter about the recent landslide of videos on Facebook regarding the Ice Bucket Challenge.  Celebrities from all sectors, their kids, friends, and even a President has become involved in partaking in the ice cold deluge.  Hopefully they understand that to which they are to be drawing attention.

Some people are critical of it, saying donations should be made rather than hopping on the ice water dumping video bandwagon.  I'm certainly not being critical of the criticism, but I thought I'd give my take on it.

I know that many, like President GW are not only taking the plunge, but also writing the checks.  I realize there are also those that are not...but are merely joining in with thousands of others on the latest "thing".  My opinion:  I DON'T CARE!!!

What I'm grateful for is this: A much needed, if not much greatly delayed, spotlight is being cast upon ALS.  At least people are being made aware of this wicked specter.

You see, my Dad died of this horrible disease on March 10, 1992.  My mom was robbed of an extremely loving husband, my brothers and I of an amazing, hard working Dad, my sons and nephews of a awesome model of a Grandfather, and many others a terrific and giving friend. 

It started in his right foot, he wasn't able to lift his forefoot.  The doctors thought he had lower back issues causing nerve impingement resulting in an unnecessary and painful back surgery.  He had a lower leg brace which helped hold his foot up so he wouldn't trip over it.  Tests continued as the strength in his leg was being depleted slowly.  Soon he was walking with a cane, then to a motorized scooter.

The trips to the doctor were frequent, with many possible diagnoses being put forward.  Each was eliminated one at a time.  There really isn't a test for the disease.  It's kind of like taking your car to the shop.  Test for this...nope...test for that...nope...test for the other thing....nope....then it's ALS.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis  (ALS)  AKA Lou Gehrig's disease attacks the nerves that control your voluntary muscles.  These are the muscles that you can think about and control at will.  Your heart muscle (thank God) doesn't require your thought to expand and contract.  Many others do.

Slowly muscles shut down, atrophy sets in, and my 220 pound huge chested, large bicep dad wasted away to probably less than 140 pounds.  He got to the point where he had to ring a bell (diaphragm and tongue control speech) to have Mom, or one of us if we were there at the house, to turn him in his hospital bed.  He still had a little bit of control over his hands, though not enough for anything but scrawling out a note on his notepad.  Trapped in his own nearly non-functioning body, mind fully intact, his stress level went through the roof precipitating a relatively mild heart attack in the midst of it all.

In a period of a mere 2 years, Dad traveled from diagnosis to death.  If anyone had not seen him throughout this period, they would not have recognized him toward the end.

Tears well up as I write the words, remembering the torture a previously very active man went through, dying way too soon at 62 years old. 

So it's OK if you're critical of the icy challenge...seriously, I get it.  Write the checks...they've needed the funds for far too long.  But for Christ's sake...for the sake of many others like my Dad...go ahead and drench yourself for all I care!  At least ALS is out there in the spotlight!  To those who have done either one, THANK YOU!!   Who knows, along with my financial contribution, you may be seeing a freakin' genius joining the Facebook video fray...and watch out...you may be challenged! FG

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Symphony of Silence

Image
I don't read many novels because I prefer the sometimes raw reality of non-fiction.  Many people have explained that their love of works of fiction stems from a desire to escape.  I get it.  Being transported to another time, place, or circumstance can do for us what a vacation can do but it doesn't cost as much.  On one occasion I read a period novel.  I'm really not sure what came over me and moved me to the dark side of reading fiction but I did.  I don't recall the name of the book or most of the plot of this novel, but I vividly remember the opening scene of the book. The setting was in the 17or 1800's.  A young woman, perhaps in her 20's or early 30's was sitting alone in a dark sitting room of her home where she lived alone.  She sat in a rocking chair.  It was dark as the sun had long past set.  Electricity didn't service the home therefore, there were no lights.  Of couse she had lamps and candles but none were lit. There was only the glow of th
Read more

Love Inside the Lines

Image
 As with most of us, when I was a child and given a coloring book, I was always told, "You need to color inside the lines!".  I mean, it makes sense.  Part of the beauty of art is seen in a certain amount of order and symmetry.  In order for some things to be recognizable the way we tend to see things, the colors stay within the applicable borders.  Puffy clouds in the blue sky are recognizable because the white is in the clouds and the sky remains blue.  In the spring, greens stay within the lines of the shapes of "leaf" in order for the leaf to maintain it's 'leafness' and be seen as leaf.  The Designer and artist seems to have been intentional with such things. When the boys were small, they were allowed to play in the back yard as long as they stayed inside the fence.  They could play in the front yard as long a they didn't go past the sidewalk.  My oldest compliant child didn't get close to the edge of the sidewalk.  My unique middle child w
Read more

Power Quitting

Image
 M. Scott Peck said in his book, "The Road Less Travelled" - I'll paraphrase from what I'm hoping is still a fairly sharp memory, "Life is difficult.  Until you come to the place where you understand and accept that life is difficult, life will be difficult."  Read it again.  Those are some very good words.  Life outside of Eden is tough.  God told us it would be after we (yes, we) thought we could make wiser decisions on our own without him.  Life on the other side of the flaming, swirling sword guarding the entrance to paradise is chaos, difficulty, de-creation, decay, and ultimately death.  (Spoiler alert: that isn't permanent due to God's love and grace).  No, it's not all bad, but we invited plenty of it into our reality. I've done enough circuits around the sun on this spinning mudball that I've experienced plenty of hard times.  I've lost a parent and a sibling as well as many friends to death, I've experienced lots of heal
Read more