I was so pleased to hear that Katie, our little granddaughter, had joined the 4H Club this year. As part of what they were learning this year in public speaking they each had to write their own speech in their own words and present it.
Well..... Anyone knowing Katie and her passion would guess immediately what she chose to write about! I believe she will be entering a contest and reading what she wrote. I asked her permission to share this on the blog. Here goes....
"Hello ladies, gentlemen and honourable judges. My name is Katie... and I am from the Whitemouth Community 4H Club.
Today I'm here to talk to you about ALS. Also called Lou Gehrig's Disease. ALS stands for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. ALS is a muscular disease that kills all the muscles in your body and eventually kills your heart or lungs. In ALS your brain acts like the light switch and your body acts like the lightbulb. When your brain tells your body to do something your body will respond but when you have ALS, ALS breaks the connection. ALS has no cure!
The reason I brought up this subject is because my Grandpa Rick had it. He was diagnosed February 1, 2008. ALS can start anywhere in your body. For my grandpa, it started in his legs. That is the reason my grandpa had to use a cane. My grandpa let my sister and I name the cane. We call it Max.
We knew my grandpa would need a lot of help so we renovated our house and garage into a beautiful suite and asked grandpa and grandma to move in with us. And they did! Through my grandma and grandpa we have met a lot of people. For example we met Dianna, Brian and Sharon from the ALS Society of Manitoba. They help families learn about ALS and supply equipment to people suffering from this horrible disease.
I wanted to help the people with ALS. So, I came up with an idea to have an ALS garage sale. Our first garage sale made $1,000.00 And our second garage sale made $1,637.00! This year I hope to raise around $2,000.00.
Sadly, August 13, 2010 my brave Grandpa Rick passed away. It is hard to see someone you love suffer so much. It is because of this I want to help people with ALS and hopefully one day you can too!"
****
I had the priviledge of Katie reading her speech to me and all I could do was cry and cry as I listened to this little girl express herself in the loss of her dear grandpa Rick and her continued desire to raise money to help families and find a cure for ALS.
I am sure Grandpa Rick was smiling down from heaven as Katie read her speech to me that night and so proud of her wanting to share it with everyone. She has put feet, hands and now a voice to her passion! What a challenge for me to follow!
