Pumpjacks and Playdates: VisionWalk

I don't raise money. I don't sell things. I couldn't sell a Girl Scout cookie. So I was knocked off my socks when people began to find my VisionWalk page online and began to donate... I know cancer walks and things, but I had no idea people knew about it. Heather said she had done them for years for her grandmothers. I began last year in tribute to Nick and Justin. They have a form of macular degeneration... I explain it on my page, but the retina is always focusing causing the muscles to work very hard. It wreaks havoc on their lives each day... Things just seem like they would be so much easier for Nick in our everyday world if he didn't deal with it. Things like sending text messages and reading e-mails. It is a challenge for me as a writer that I must explain things in person instead of e-mails... yep, hard for me! I wrote Nick a card when his grandfather died in my tiny handwriting... I realized months later what he meant when he said his dad had to type what I wrote in order for him to read it... It isn't that he cannot see... it is like having very bad vision that cannot be corrected with lenses. He can see perfectly at times, but only after the retina works so hard to focus on the object. He has always played sports and is awesome, but when we played tennis we were against a background of trees... His eyes had trouble finding the ball because of the background. He is wonderful at golf, but it's hard to see the ball the entire time in the air before it hits ground.

Nick says he has been told since he was young they would find a cure. They have poked and prodded him for hours... It's rare and supposedly it's genetic... but, with stem cell research and new medicines I do believe they will find a cure... somehow. Here is my page... It's interesting and has more information. I don't walk for money. I walk for advocacy. I am a huge advocate of the American Heart Society because a heart attack took my mom, my grandfather and my grandmother... and heart cancer took my grandfather (41st case in the US at the time)... but, I cannot cure it. Heart attacks are just something you cannot cure... And she is gone. I can do nothing to save my mother now... so in this regard I feel as if maybe I can do something to cure a retinal degeneration. Maybe I can make a difference. Isn't that what we all want in life?

http://www.fightblindness.org/site/TR?px=1520182&pg=personal&fr_id=2360

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Stealing Stargardt's

We join together walking towards a cure for the over ten million Americans living with retinal degenerative diseases.

For the second year I will join in the VisionWalk. My boyfriend, Nick Gray was diagnosed at a young age with Stargardt's Disease. This form of macular dystrophy occurs in one of every 20,000 children over the age 6.

With Stargardt’s Disease the macula and surrounding retina are affected. The macula is the very center of our retina. The images we see are focused on the retina like the film in the camera. Unlike camera film where every part of the film is equally sensitive, our retina concentrates the most sensitive vision in the very center. Additionally, our best color vision resides in the macula. Thus, damage to the macula results in loss of visual acuity or sharpness of vision, decreased color vision and small blind spots.

Nick has never let this slow him down, but he cannot run away from the way it molds his life on a daily basis. It holds him back in the smallest ways... like reading a computer screen and sending a text message. He has held out hope for many years that a cure would come along, but his hopes fade as the years pass... I pray that one day he is able to go through a day without having to think about his eyesight, but just enjoy the beautiful sights God has given us in clear vision.

VisionWalk is the signature fundraising event for the Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB). FFB is a national eye research organization that is dedicated to providing treatments and cures for people affected by retinal degenerative diseases. Since 1971, FFB has raised over $300 million to support critical research.

I am not asking you to give a donation, but to have advocacy and knowledge... but if you feel God leading you to help this cause then... what a blessing! I do not know too much about research, but year after year as technology increase I do know someone will find a cure.

Sponsor Me

If you cannot walk with me, but you would still like to help me reach my fundraising goal, you can sponsor me with an online donation now. Just click on the button above the status indicator that says Support "My Name". You may also send in a personal check. Checks should be made payable to "Foundation Fighting Blindness" and please note in the "memo" section of your check, my full name or Team Name so your donation gets credited to the right person. Thank you so much for pledging your support!

(i.e. Team Hope or Jane Smith)

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