Support Bill Trayling in his fight against ALS.

UPDATE

Bill passed away at home yesterday. :( Will post more informstion as soon as possible. Thank you to everyone who has donated to helping Bill to the challenge that faced him. He met it head on, and was surrounded by love and support. Will write more asap

Hi - Our names are Sarah and Heather. We are fundraising for our good friend and community member Bill Trayling, who has recently been diagnosed with ALS.

This devastating disease, with no known cure, is also known as the bankruptcy disease. It not only ravages your body, but also causes your family and caregivers to be burdened with the substantial costs of accessibility and care along the way.

It is so heartbreaking to watch someone so incredibly vibrant go through this disease. It is even more heartbreaking - and yet heartwarming - to see his soulmate Julia standing firmly by his side through all of this. Their love for each other is amazing.

Bill is an extraordinary person who has lived and extraordinary life. He has inspired so many people as an athlete, coach and mentor. He is also a fighter- and is taking this disease head on.

But he needs our help.

The costs of retrofitting his home with wheelchair lifts and accessible renovations will be extensive. As well, accessing evidence based treatments that are documented to help slow the progression of the disease could run into the tens of thousands.

Asking for help is incredibly hard for Bill. But because he doesn't want to leave his family in debt, he has allowed us to put together this fundraiser for him.

So now it’s our turn now to give back. Please donate what you can to help Bill in his fight of his life.

Thank you,

Heather and Sarah

My name is Bill Trayling - and I was formally diagnosed with ALS in October 2022.

While it’s getting more and more difficult to communicate both verbally and in writing - I will try to share a bit about the ALS journey my family and I are on.

My symptoms started in February 2022 - as I was in my final semester of a 30 year teaching and coaching career.

I was looking forward to my retirement. I had big plans to stay active, to build my coaching business, and most importantly, to continue to build a life of adventure with my spouse Julia and our lovely children - Molly, Mason, and Weston.

We first visited our Neurologist in August. He was a lovely man, combining expertise with a wonderful bedside manner. He left no stone unturned - running every test possible, as we held out hope that my increasingly bothersome symptoms were perhaps something other than ALS.

As he broke the news to us on that October evening, Julia and I shed a tear, took a deep breath, and then resolved to do whatever it took to counter what we’ve come to call the ‘Western Medicine Death Sentence’.

You see - even as the verdict came down - we knew that people diagnosed with ALS had experienced ALS symptom reversals. In fact, I’d personally met some of these people - and witnessed their stories of reversal first hand. Spurred by our research after our first appointment, I gathered some family resources and ventured to the HealingALS conference in Salt Lake. There, I met first hand folks who had stalled or reversed their symptoms through various means.

Every one of the people I met had been given the same death sentence from their Western doctors. And every one of them - declined to accept it.

I also met - and listened to - a multitude of Doctors and health experts who believed that ALS was not a disease per se - but a set of symptoms that arises in some people. And to a person - each professional who spoke offered hope - that with a focus on body, mind, and Spirit - one could build a team to mitigate the symptoms that most Western doctors see as inevitable.

So - buoyed by my experience in Salt Lake, and Julia’s ferocious research - we started to build our team. While overwhelming at times, we continue to work to find folks who can help while still utilizing the allopathic resources provided by our healthcare system.

Although we believe I can heal, we understand that in most cases, symptoms get worse before they get better. This means bracing ourselves (literally) for my physical decline.

Accepting the loss of my physical ability has been a huge emotional challenge. Anyone who knows me will be aware of how I’ve live a life of physicality.

Whether it was losing my ability to ride my bike, drive my truck, or to take the recycling out - the quick decline of my ability to ‘do’ has been an enormous physical and emotional challenge for both me and my family.

But - as the list of capabilities that I’ve come to grips with grows to include the inability to do the most basic of human functions - so does our resolve.

However, we need help.

Your help.

In the last few weeks, I’ve moved to PSW support and am now pretty well housebound in terms of mobility. Julia continues to work to maintain our health insurance, and we’ve been forced to move to a new home that can accommodate the wheelchair lifts and accessible renovations we require.

As I stated, it’s not going to get easier - until it gets worse. Not only physically and emotionally, but also financially. The ALS community often refers to this as ‘the bankruptcy disease’.

The help you can provide through your donations - will not only provide for accessibility in our home, but it will also provide an opportunity for us to continue fighting - as the evidence based treatments we’ve decided on have a significant cost.

Your help will also aid me in ensuring I avoid leaving a legacy of severe debt to Julia, Molly, Mason and Weston.

With gratitude,

Bill