Hi, Im Barbara Jenney. Thanks for taking the time to visit the Team Ruthie JustGiving page.

 

Team Ruthie is a group of my family members and our frends walking together to help raise money for the Motor Neuron Disease Foundation who are fighting to find a cure for ALS.

 

The namesake of our team, Ruth Louison, is my mother who I regret to announce lost her 2.5 year battle with ALS on Saturday May 28 2011. Rest in Peace my darling mother.

 

Mom was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic lateral Sclerosis) in March of 2009.  ALS is a disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement.

In ALS, nerve cells (neurons) waste away or die, and can no longer send messages to muscles. This eventually leads to muscle weakening, twitching, and an inability to move the arms, legs, and body. The condition slowly gets worse. When the muscles in the chest area stop working, it becomes hard or impossible to breathe on one's own.

 

Before her diagnosis this wonderful woman was active and vibrant, a working woman, a writer, a wife and mother of 1 and grandmother of 4. She lived her life spouting sayings like "Baseball is life, the rest is just details", "Mopar or no car", "If its too loud youre too old", and "Grandmas don't just bake cookies". Her house was always filled with people, the sounds of music and laughter and the smell of whatever struck her fancy to cook that sunday afternoon... and there was usually a drag race or a baseball game somewhere in her schedule.

 

Since her diagnosis life has become drastically different.

 

This horrible disease has stopped her walking, speaking, feeding herself, breathing without assistance, or even simply sitting up without support.  

 

ALS changes the lives of people on a daily basis and its not just those who are diagnosed and have to live with this terrible illness but their families and friends who are forced to stand by helplessly and watch their loved ones suffer.

 

To help change this... we need your support.

 

Donating here through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe and they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, your money is sent directly to the charity and Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. You don't have to worry that someone will get your money and spend it. We NEVER even see it. It goes DIRECTLY to the charity from here. So it’s the most efficient and safest and fastest way to donate. So whether you are here in the UK or back in the US where we are from, we need your support! I know times are hard, they are hard for us all but please dig deep and donate now.

 

Every donation no matter how small will bring us closer to our fundraising goal and will bring us closer to the day when people wont have to suffer the way my mother and so many others have had to.

 

Thank you for taking the time to read our page and for any donation you are able to make. Remember .... ALS doesnt ONLY happen to people you don't know.