The opportunity to run at all given my health history is an incredible blessing, and this event has a deeply personal significance to me.
In July 2002, I was hospitalized when I woke-up one morning and could not move any of my limbs. Days of tests for everything ranging from Meningitis to HIV to West Nile Virus followed, without conclusive diagnosis. After my fourth or fifth day (this all still runs together in my memory, sorry!) in intensive care and quarantine, my condition was linked to Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS). Instead of spending my summer training as a member of the Track & Field Program at Ithaca College where I intended to study the coming Fall, I had to relearn basic motor skills like walking and typing. I still haven't worked-up the nerve to recover nine-years of piano lessons, but I digress . . .
Over the next 17 weeks, in addition to logging miles, I’ve set of goal of raising at least $2,000 for the Guillain Barre Syndrome – Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (GBS/CIDP) Foundation International.
Many afflicted by the condition don't even get the chance to walk again, let alone run a marathon. I am incredibly blessed to be in the condition I am after the hospital stay, and realize that.
Raising awareness for this seemingly rare (but all too-close-to-home) condition is just as important to me as raising funds for the Foundation, so please check out the Foundation’s website (http://www.gbs-cidp.org) and share it with your friends, family, co-workers, et. al.
For more information about Guillain-Barre Syndrome please visit http://www.gbs-cidp.org/aboutgbs.htm
If you would like to make a contribution, please reach out to me and I can mail your check made out to ‘GBS/CIDP Foundation International’ to the organization. Of, if you would like to contribute with a credit card, please visit http://www.gbs-cidp.org/contributionpageintro.html and feel free to make an ‘In Honor Of’ contribution. (I may try to set-up a nifty event-specific page for the marathon; stay tuned!)
If you donate, please be sure to find out if your employer has a gift-matching program, and get more bang for your buck!
Thank you all, best wishes for the summer and God Bless!
1 comment:
Your story is inspirational. I will forward it on to my daughter, an athelete who developed leg weakness in July 2005 after graduating from High School. She too was tested for everything except GBS, until the CDC made an announcement 3 months later about the menactra vaccination, GBS link. She received menactra 28 days before the illness began. Hers was a relatively mild case which still wrecked havoc with her life, missed the first semester of college and sent her into a tailspin. She had months of weakness, fatigue, tingling, shooting "electical" sensations and pain. Doctors blew her off. By the time they decided to do their testing, the results were normal. Because her case was not severe enough, she was dismissed. She too experienced the fear and loneliness at night and thought she would die. She has gotten through. She is taking summer courses now so that she can graduate "on time" next May. What precipitated your GBS? Was it a vaccination? Good luck to you. I pray for you and all others afflicted with GBS.
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