- M
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Hi Friends-
As many of you know, my brother Woody was diagnosed with ALS (yes, the "Ice Bucket" illness) on Good Friday of last year. Lou Gehrig's Disease, as ALS is commonly known, is a currently incurable disease that causes the progressive weakening of a person's muscle strength, leading ultimately to total incapacitation. It's a vicious, nasty disease, but Woody and his wife and kids, buoyed by the support of their friends and extended family, have met its gaze with grace, good-humor, hope, and guts. I have never been more proud, humbled, or awe-struck.
Woody is now at the point where he needs a fancy motorized wheelchair to get around, which his insurance company paid for! Woo hoo! It should be arriving in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, in order to get that *wheelchair* around (to participate in more medical trials, to get to therapy sessions and doctor visits, to go visit his adoring nieces and nephews, etc.) Woody and his family need a wheelchair van. The insurance company number-crunchers aren't nearly as generous with this purchase. I'm hoping you all - and your own circles of big-hearted friends - will fill that generosity-vacuum and help him get the van he needs.
I've set a goal of 25 thousand dollars. I want you to know that such a sum seems insanely huge to me (though it likely won't cover the full cost of a van). I have no idea how close we'll get to that amount, but every dollar we can sock away into this fund is a car-loan dollar Woody and Kathi won't have to worry about as they continue staring this disease down. In the event that we somehow raise more money than is needed for the van, every penny will be spent on ALS-related expenses Woody accrues, such as purchasing (incredibly expensive) experimental treatments and supplements, offsetting the cost of travel to distant medical centers, etc.
Woody and Kathi, along with my mother, my father, and myself (and now my brother Matt and sister Kate, too! Yes!) are looking to travel to Washington, DC in May in order to participate in the ALS Association annual conference and to lobby federal officials to muster more funds for research and adaptive equipment and to allow access to more experimental treatments and therapies for people living with ALS. In order to get there, Woody's going to need this van. I'm hoping that the funds you all contribute and/or raise from others by sharing this with your social circles will help him get it by then. It's short notice, I know, but let's see what we can do.
Its always a bit awkward to ask for help, especially when the asking is the holding out of a tin cup, but it would mean so, so much to me, to Woody, to Kathi, and to everyone who loves him if we could do this for him. We can't do much in this fight, but we can do this. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for any help you are willing to provide.
Love,
Ted (Woody's brother)
As many of you know, my brother Woody was diagnosed with ALS (yes, the "Ice Bucket" illness) on Good Friday of last year. Lou Gehrig's Disease, as ALS is commonly known, is a currently incurable disease that causes the progressive weakening of a person's muscle strength, leading ultimately to total incapacitation. It's a vicious, nasty disease, but Woody and his wife and kids, buoyed by the support of their friends and extended family, have met its gaze with grace, good-humor, hope, and guts. I have never been more proud, humbled, or awe-struck.
Woody is now at the point where he needs a fancy motorized wheelchair to get around, which his insurance company paid for! Woo hoo! It should be arriving in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, in order to get that *wheelchair* around (to participate in more medical trials, to get to therapy sessions and doctor visits, to go visit his adoring nieces and nephews, etc.) Woody and his family need a wheelchair van. The insurance company number-crunchers aren't nearly as generous with this purchase. I'm hoping you all - and your own circles of big-hearted friends - will fill that generosity-vacuum and help him get the van he needs.
I've set a goal of 25 thousand dollars. I want you to know that such a sum seems insanely huge to me (though it likely won't cover the full cost of a van). I have no idea how close we'll get to that amount, but every dollar we can sock away into this fund is a car-loan dollar Woody and Kathi won't have to worry about as they continue staring this disease down. In the event that we somehow raise more money than is needed for the van, every penny will be spent on ALS-related expenses Woody accrues, such as purchasing (incredibly expensive) experimental treatments and supplements, offsetting the cost of travel to distant medical centers, etc.
Woody and Kathi, along with my mother, my father, and myself (and now my brother Matt and sister Kate, too! Yes!) are looking to travel to Washington, DC in May in order to participate in the ALS Association annual conference and to lobby federal officials to muster more funds for research and adaptive equipment and to allow access to more experimental treatments and therapies for people living with ALS. In order to get there, Woody's going to need this van. I'm hoping that the funds you all contribute and/or raise from others by sharing this with your social circles will help him get it by then. It's short notice, I know, but let's see what we can do.
Its always a bit awkward to ask for help, especially when the asking is the holding out of a tin cup, but it would mean so, so much to me, to Woody, to Kathi, and to everyone who loves him if we could do this for him. We can't do much in this fight, but we can do this. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for any help you are willing to provide.
Love,
Ted (Woody's brother)
Organizer and beneficiary
Woodruff Smith
Beneficiary