A video clip is posted to the right of the Whitemouth ALS Walk 2011. Thanks Brian of the ALS Society of MB for sharing the video and pics.
First of all a great big thank you to everyone who could come out and join in walking with the students at the Whitemouth ALS Walk, Jennifer Staerk and Val for organizing the event, the teachers, staff, students, the local business sponsors, and all the ALS MB staff. It is always held during the day on a Friday school morning. We even had some of the personal care home patients and staff join in.
It was so great to have Rick's mom and dad make it out for the walk. It is not easy at their age to drive the distance. Rick's dad, Wendal, accepted the donation to the ALS Society from the Lion's Club on behalf of of his son Rick. Thank you to the guys in the Whitemouth Lions Club for Bquing the hot dogs & for your donation once again!
Thanks to all who came out and supported Tia and Katie's garage sale before and on the day of the walk. It was a huge success once again. I don't have the final totals yet.
The day of the walk was cloudy, windy and cool but all our hearts were kept warm by our memories of the inspirational and wonderful man that Rick was. He walked the walk and you got to know that he was walking with us!!!
A bit of background....The students go into the community each year and get sponsors for the walk as well as any family and friends joining in. The ALS Walk was first started in Whitemouth in honour of a school teacher, Louise Lamaga who had ALS, by her daughter Lorraine.
Rick at the time was just diagnosed with ALS. We were still living in the city and were told about this walk. So we went and joined in. Here Rick was a person who was actually living with the disease standing right in the midst of them. That is when the students and community wrapped their arms around us. After that each year Rick and I would share with the students at their ALS Kick Off Rally. Year to year the students would see the progression and the never ending need for costly specialty equipment first hand.
This year was exceptionally difficult emotionally for everyone. It was the first walk without Rick and it was very painful. A couple of days before the walk I was looking for Rick's memorial video as I was asked if they could play it before we started the walk. While looking through my pile of videos I just happened to pick up one and started to play it. Well....the flood gates of tears and raw emotion bubbled up out of my being!
Rick and I just had so much compassion for anyone that would have to go through what we were going through. Early on I searched the Internet, libraries etc. for any kind of information to better understand what we were going through and would go through. We needed information on the physical and the coping challenges that we were just beginning to face daily. We needed information directed specifically to the diagnosed person and to the caregiver but not just from the clinical textbook perspective.
Believe me at the time there was not too much out there that we could get our hands on. I sure can understand now that people are in so much emotional pain just trying to cope with the ravages of this disease that they don't have much time or energy to document what is happening. Because of that initial need for "down in the trenches, in your face, nothing barred" kind of information Rick and I began our own little private quest. We were going to share our ALS walk whether it would be by talking, blogging or video taping!
It has had many benefits and many not so good benefits. Especially, on days when you are overwhelmed and discouraged and ready to throw the frying pan across the room! Not pretty!!!
Anyways, I went and taped hours of footage. Nothing was ever preplanned or discussed beforehand. I wouldn't even know when I was going to go and get that camera. Everything was serendipity and serendipitous!!! Another one of Rick's favorite words!
Rick would just flow as the tape rolled. Another one of his famous sayings was "I never met a mike that I didn't like!". Looking back it was a great outlet for him to be able to express himself. Until now, I just have not brought myself to go through any of those tapes. So watching this video for the first time the other day was so heart wrenching but exhilarating! Heart wrenching to see my sweetheart describe what he was feeling and going through and exhilarating to see him and hear his voice again! I could hear him tell me he loved me, calling me "babette". There was so much pain and yet so much gain!!!!
Moving along here.... I was not too sure about the intensity of emotion this video would or could possibly evoke in the students watching and listening to Rick's raw frankness of what he was dealing with. So I had a longtime friend of Rick and mine, Sillypuppy, put together a copy of a segment of the footage. This particular tape that I watched has many segments in it, first segment is one of Rick laying in bed talking about many things, the next segment is the one that I chose to share with the students, and then the last segment is where he sees his memorial stone for the first time out at the cemetery.
Every so often I will try and muster up the emotional courage to pull out another video that I taped of Rick but I usually convince myself not to do it yet. At the time I was so focussed on taping Rick that I wasn't always aware of the complete content of what he was saying. So for me it is watching for the first time.
In our relationship Rick was very comfortable to just talk and talk about anything and everything. It is another thing though to have a camera aimed at you when you are going through gag reflex moments, emotional lows, and being open and spontaneous about it all and not knowing who was all going to be watching it down the road! He was so brave to be so volunerable! This one particular segment is exceptionally emotionally revealing. You feel his grieving, his body loss, his pain! It just tears at your heart!
I always told him he had the gift of being a teacher. Rick knew how to explain things in a way we could all understand. He always brought in humour so it made the difficult issues somewhat more easier to accept because he made you laugh. You can really pick that up on the tapes as he explains what is happening to his body and how he is coping with the disease.
Anyways, I took this segment of the tape and headed straight over to the ALS Society of MB to get their opinion if it would be appropriate for the ALS Walk presentation. They were impressed and somewhat surprised at the emotional content of the tape. Diana asked permission to use some of the clips for training and educational purposes in some upcoming videos they will be producing.
Rick and I always hoped that somehow we could be a source of support and help for others with ALS. Who would have thought that some of this footage is exactly what they have been looking for! Who knows...someday Rick maybe be travelling and teaching all around the world and affecting people's lives for many years to come! and it didn't even cost a cent...it costs a life...his life!!!
Thanks Sharon Carter for your special words to my heart!!!!
