Vi and Peg's Adventure Trek and Run

Here is the application for Vi and Peg's Adventure Trek and Run. The race is on 10/10! You can also go to HURTHawaii.blogs.com for more info. The deadline to apply for the race is October 1 and no late applications will be accepted to so hury and enter and we'll see you there!

MDA Telethon

The Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon airs today, Labor Day, on KITV-4. Be sure to tune in today to watch! There will be a live interview with Jan at 2:00 this afternoon and Natalie will be answering telethon phones from 3:00 to 5:00pm so please be sure to call in and donate! Here are the numbers to call:

MDA Donation Phone Numbers
Oahu: 792-4632
Maui: 270-2632
Hawaii: 930-2632
Kauai: 240-2632

Address:
MDA Hawaii
1221 Kapiolani Blvd #220
Honolulu, HI 96814

Vi's Adventure Trek and Run

It's set!!! Vi and Peg's 3rd Annual Adventure Trek and Run will be held on October 10, 2010 at Kualoa Ranch Valley! How cool is that? The trek and run will be on 10/10/10!!! We look forward to seeing everyone again this year at beautiful Kualoa Valley for another breath taking trek. More details to follow as it gets closer. We're putting the word out there, so please mark your calendars!

Fourth of July SUCCESS!

Vi really wanted to write the Fourth of July Update Blog herself, but her neck has been hurting so she asked me to write it. She's a much better writer then I am, but here goes anyway.....

Early in morning on the 4th, our country's birthday and Lou Gehrig's 76th year of retirement from baseball when he was diagnosed with ALS (Vi wrote this line, see how good she is).

Our Fourth of July set up crew met at Divina's house at 7:00am sharp to load up her tents, tables, grill and decorations. Meanwhile, at a much earlier hour, Glizza and company were busy picking up the Fourth of July BBQ food from Vi and Jan's house. We all met at the Kapiolani Park and began the long haul of set up for the second annual ALS Fourth of July BBQ. The tents were set up on the Diamond Head side of the park, trees were wrapped in red, white and blue streamers and the American flag flew high. It was a team effort! Thank you to our set up crew for your hardwork!

When we finally started with a welcome speech from Jan, he remembered all who could not come and those among us who flew to Heaven this year: Daria, Sylvia, Nancy, Joe, Bully, Charlie. They are having their own fireworks up there, I bet.

Lance and Nicole manned the BBQ grill, grilling up burgers and dogs. Vicky and Priscilla collected tickets and donations. Nancy was busy making shave ice. Jeannie was painting the kiddies face. Divina and Natalie called out winning raffle numbers. Pete took photos and everyone had a great time! Thank you to all of our raffle prize donors: Tropical Blends, Ocean Minded, Smith, Vertra, The Peggy Chun Gallery, Menchies Frozen Yogurt, Bikram Yoga and The Moana Surfrider. Thank you to Daniel, Cole and Tanya for collecting the prizes! Thank you to D. Otanu Produce for donating the veggies and to Loves Bakery for the buns!

Vi, Britt, Chester and Celeste were there enjoying the festivities and soaking up the sun.

The Fourth of July competitive spirit was souring high! We played water balloon toss, tug-o-war, relays and a good ol' fashion game of softball.

This Fourth of July was a huge success and could not have been possible without the tremendous help from family, friends and strangers. For fear that I might leave a name out I'm just going to say thank you to all for making this event so successful, you know who you are no matter how big or how small your contribution. Pictures are soon to follow!

ALS Baseball 5.23.10 v2.mov

AWARENESS, AWARENESS, ALS AWARENESS

Last year 4TH OF JULY was declared ALS AWARENESS DAY by Mayor Mufi Hanneman. No one pursued the mayor's office this year to obtain the same proclamation as last year. There are different kinds of awareness. The proclamation declared by the mayor was to make aware what is ALS as most people do not know what is ALS. The awareness written about today is about physical awareness, emotional awareness and spiritual awareness. These are three important components that every person and family member touched with the disease should be aware.

I feel every day should be ALS Awareness Day, especially for us who have ALS and their families. Remember the day when your doctor announced to you that you have ALS! You were shocked, your head was spinning, and maybe crying. This will last for awhile until this processes through you and then you can move on to education. We need to educate ourselves first about the disease process and know your body, keeping track of the progression of the disease. Everyone is different. There are many resources out there. Start with your local MDA (Hawaii MDA has a wealth of resources and knowledgeable people that would love to help you.)

Search your heart, reviewing your life and it's meaning to you, your priorities in life and are they to remain the same. Educate your family about this awful progressive disease that will steal part of your life away that you are so looking forward to spending time with your family watching them grow up! From there you and your family can educate all of your friends and the people that stare at you (For the one's starring: I use to throw the SHAKA with a big smile).

Again search your heart spiritually and know where you stand between you and your God. I know I have a wonderful loving God. Take time to talk to your pastor or counselor, sharing the issues that are heavy on your heart. Relationships will go up and down like a roller coaster along with your emotions. Seek marital counseling, again go talk to your pastor and have someone you trust come and help with a family intervention that all will understand and also bring up their own fears. Having a family intervention can bring unity and understanding to the family.

I wrote the above from my personal perspective. When I was diagnosed, I was sitting on the clinic bed and the Janster was sitting on a chair next to me. We both had a good idea what was ALS. When the doctor opened his mouth and the words flowed out ALS. I closed my eyes and prayed, "please God give me strength and please take this burden away." In an instant I felt lighter and knew Jesus was with me and will be with me to the end.

After hearing the sad news, both Jan and I cried and cried for awhile. Jan put together a nice binder of information about ALS for each of our 3 children. I met with Daniel in person on Mother's Day at Magic Island over looking our favorite surf spot Ala Moana Bowls. Tihis was one of the saddest thing I've had to do. We cried and cried together with hardly any spoken words. There was no need for words. Jan called the other two children who lived abroad telling them the sad news and sending them a copy of the binder of ALS materials.I spoke to each child to see how they were doing emotionally.(As a mom and nurse, I wanted to make sure they were understanding what this disease was about and how it would affect their/our lives.

Jan and I made a Ben Franklin Truth chart of all the things we wanted to do and what I wanted to do before the big HURRAH. The first 3 years, I continued to work on an on-call bases and traveled with the kids thru Europe on the surf tour and meeting up with Jan to spend time and travel witb him. I spent 18 months studying for my Masters in nursing with my nursing friends which we all finished in flying colors. The last 5 years we have spent many months in Bali near our son Mikala, watching our grandchild grow and surfing. (Jan's favorite place to surf). I continued to swim and surf until I no longer could. The passion of running turned into walking, then with a cane and then with a walker and finally a wheel chair pushed by my friends. (We did the Haleakala Run to the Sun Race the last 5 years as a relay). The list goes on and we've checked them off. Family is the top of my list.

We continue to see a counselor once in a while to check in to see how our relationship is going emotionally. This seems to be working well. I continue to meet with my pastor once a week. I am now on the vent having 24/7 care. I take it one day at a time keeping in check my emotional, physical and spiritual awareness.

On my last post, I received a comment from a 44 year old lady just diagnosed with ALS who touched my heart. The one who gives me solace and peace in this life is God.

God Bless,
vi