Saturday, April 15, 2006

Why August for the Dream Ride?


If anyone here has been over to the Dream Ride site, you may have seen that the month and week has been picked.

"Why?" You may be asking, is it August. That's not actually fall yet.

For one, is that the month of August has no American holidays to contend with. It is also a pleasant time of year to be going somewhere weather wise.
The biggest reason though, is this is when my journey really began in respect to what a charity can accomplish. My son was born in August of 1993 with Arthrogryposis, which is a rare occurrence of around one in every 3000 births. It affects the muscles, tendons and joints. A better explanation can be found here http://www.shrinershq.org/patientedu/arthrogryposis.html.

This is also the month that I first found out, up close and personal, what a well founded charity organization can do. Through the years I have also seen and witnessed the determination of the children with handicaps of all kinds. Children that smile and go on with life as best they can and dedicated professionals who aren't motivated by uncaring greed. Parents who worry day in and day out about their child's condition but won't allow the child to know their worry. It is all a very humbling experience to see these children interact. The pressure of caring for a child with birth defects can wreak havoc on a marriedge and many won't survive it. It's all very overwhelming to deal with and very expensive.

After watching a movie called 'The Mighty', My son told me that he was glad I wasn't a magician. When I asked him why, he said "Because when I was born with problems, you didn't disappear. Thanks dad."

4 comments:

Kathleen Jennette said...

I have never heard of this disease and am sorry to hear your family has been afflicted by it. This is why we are riding... the kids and families. See--your boy even thinks your magic! I like that!

WooleyBugger said...

Thanks Kt.

I'd never heard of it before and neither did any of the doctors where he was born...except one. He wasn't even our doctor but heard the other doctors and nurses discussing it while passing. As luck would have it, he'd been studying the condition and when he heard, he took immediate action putting into practice what he knew about it.
My son is doing very well after numerous surgeries and plenty of physical therapy.
So...you might say this is part of my motivation.

Kathleen Jennette said...

I say its a great motivation and your son is now mine motivation....

Pj's Mommy said...

I just wanted to say Hello! I ran across your blog, while checking out other blogs that have anything to do with arthrogryposis. My son is 2 and has it in all four limbs. I'm also the moderator of a support group for families of children with arthrogryposis. Check out my blog and our website:

www.amcsupport.org