Thursday, September 20, 2012

Tecumseh

So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide. 
Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people and grovel to none. 
When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself. Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision. 
When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.
~ Chief Tecumseh

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

The Conway Open

Deepest thanks to everyone that participated, and a special mention to Walter and Gail for pulling the event together!

Monday, September 17, 2012

Inverted Milestones

Louise strung her first few steps together this weekend: 3 or 4 steps while smiling at Amanda and I.

Along with a vocabulary that has expanded beyond, "Dada," Louise has certainly hit a few milestones recently.

Unbeknownst to Louise, she is also presenting me with an interesting challenge.

I'm trying to fight my negative milestones for longer than it takes her to pass her positive milestones.

The deck is loaded in Louise's favor, as it should be, but I like a challenge!

There's a laundry-list of things I'm no longer able to do, but everything still moves when I want it too! I don't know how long that will last, but I intend to play the milestone game for as long as I can.

Friday, September 14, 2012

366

366 days ago, Dr. McMahon at Augusta Neurology informed me that he was deeply concerned that I may have a form of motor neuron disease. Amanda was with me.

In the run-up to that appointment I'd had numerous rounds of blood work, a CAT scan of my head, two MRIs of my head, numerous x-rays, and a horrid test called an EMG.

Dr. McMahon explained that in cases like mine, they always sought a second opinion; that's how I ended up at Johns Hopkins.

After hearing the diagnosis -- and the prognosis -- we left McMahon's office shell-shocked.

I remember climbing in the elevator wiith Amanda, and both of us doing our best to stall our tears until we were somewhere more private...we made it as far as the parking lot.

Support

A huge post about Scotland is long overdue, which I am working on.

For now, I wanted to shine a light on the efforts of our friends in Scotland to raise money in support of our family.

Not only have they hiked the tallest mountain in the UK to raise funds, but they're hosting a golf tournament tomorrow.

Amanda and I are truly humbled by their support. My thanks also to the Rooneys and everyone at Monksford House for letting these kind people use their golf course.

Muhammad Ali said, "Friendship... is not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything." These kind people have been teaching me a thing or two about friendship recently.

Here's a video of their ascent of Ben Nevis

Monday, September 10, 2012

ALS MND Daily News Digest

My trial...

Cytokinetics Prepares to Initiate Registration Program for Tirasemtiv (CK ...
Reuters
Cytokinetics Prepares to Initiate Registration Program for Tirasemtiv (CK-2017357) in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Following Recent Regulatory Interactions. * Reuters is not responsible for the content in this press release. Mon Sep 10, 2012 7:32am ...
See all stories on this topic »

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