As I scroll through our donation page, I am overwhelmed to tears with the amount of support and prayers we are getting. Some friends that we have met years ago but have lost touch, strangers, acquaintances, close family friends, and friends of friends are all part of the outpouring of sincere hopefulness to help in some way. I can assure you that you are helping us in many ways! But, I feel so unfortunate that whatever the amount of money we receive, it will not save Tim’s life. If the cure was based on the people reaching out to us, helping, donating, praying and thinking of us, he would be cured ten times over! They need to find a cure. It is that simple, Tim is strong enough to fight it. We are pleading for prayers in all areas of research for the horrible disease. We pray that the money is used most wisely and each dollar will be stretched to its furthest limit.
I have read many different views on the challenge and I feel sorry for those who think it is a waste of time or not necessary to dump ice on your head. Guess what? It is a nation wide sensation. There has been over $53.3 MILLION raised through this. If someone simply said, “donate to this charity” it wouldn’t be a viral outpouring and support. Because it is silly and ridiculous, more people want to be involved. Today, everyone knows or at least has heard of ALS and how it affects the victims of it. That is the first and foremost goal of this crazy challenge- the awareness. The second is to raise funds to aide in the research to find a cure. I can’t even begin to fathom what a cure would look like, but I know that God has blessed many skilled and talented people and it could very well be right around the corner. God is still in control, among our chaos.
As for us- This is the last few days before Tim starts school. The challenge for him (and us, I guess) is that this semester is the first one where he is diagnosed with ALS. We already met with the Lock Haven’s disability department and set up several different resources that will help Tim to get through the semester easier. From what it sounds like, Tim will be the only one in a chair. Tim will have a motorized chair. Fun fact- the speeds on this puppy are “Slow” “Medium” “Fast” and “LUDICROUS”. Tim had that put in. But still it makes me laugh. We have gotten the doctors to sign the papers needed to get the disability benefits. He was diagnosed towards the end of the semester (mid- April) so we were used to having me drive him in between classes and he was using a cane. However, looking at how we did things about 5 months ago is pretty sad how quickly it progressed.
We are spending the time before he heads back to hitting the books with his family in Meadville area. Tim and his identical twin, Stephen’s birthday was yesterday. Tim is now 27 years old.
My best friend, Angela challenged us to the ice bucket challenge in order to help stand with those who are suffering. She had the smart challenge of telling all of those who she challenged “Please don’t dump ice on yourself until you know what the cause is for. Research ALS and know what you are supporting.” We completed the challenge, but we were already pretty wet since we were caught in the rain.
I know if posts are too long, people get bored so I will go on to type up another one with some details about Tim’s surgery and recovery. Thanks for reading- if you got this far.
thedobosadventure
thedobosadventure 
keep working both of you.
TP