Walking in a Wheelchair

We are heading for Eugene in the morning. The Eugene ALS Walk starts at 11:00 as a check in time, and the walk begins at 11:30. Terry and I are taking the wheelchair as well as the walker, to ensure I have a way of staying with the group pace as we walk through Alton Baker Park. 

Dawn, my oldest daughter, helps care for her father-in-law, Lorenzo who is ridden with this awful disease. In the '80s, I lost a good friend to ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, in the muscular dystrophy category. 

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a fatal type of motor neuron disease. It is characterized by progressive degeneration of nerve cells in the spinal cord and brain. It's often called Lou Gehrig's disease, after a famous baseball player who died from the disease. -- John Hopkins Medicine

 The disease is a tough battle and comes with other issues too, such as depression and isolation. Roger, my friend, was told he had eight years to live, but continued to live well into many years beyond. But even after the time he was blessed with, he finally succumbed to this wretched disease. His lost battle left behind his three young children and his wife, Marlene.  

Tomorrow I will walk for Lorenzo, Andy's father, but I will also walk for Roger. I still miss him dearly. We used to "dance" in my front yard to some favorite songs I played on the stereo in my front room. Roger had an electric chair, and he would spin it with me attached to the handles. Many hours were spent with Roger, enjoying his company. He was a tough loss when his time finally came to an end. 

I used to work for the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon years ago, also meant to raise money to help fight for the cure of this disease. Each year, we worked long, tireless hours to collect money from people watching the telethon in the Eugene, Springfield and surrounding areas. Eventually I gave up the volunteer job when Jerry Lewis stopped the telethon work. 

So tomorrow will have a few meanings below the main purpose of doing this walk. I will proudly "walk" beside Lorenzo, with happiness and pride of him being a good person, good friend, and someone I am extremely delighted to know. But there will be sorrow and sadness, as each year all the money raised just does not seem to be enough to protect and heal people like Roger and Lorenzo from this horrible prognosis. A cure seems so far off into the future, if at all. 

Lorenzo held baby Zyrah a while back, before she could walk or talk. This man is just one of approximately 30,000 people in the United States who have this disease. He and all the others are why we walk. So come rain or shine tomorrow, we will walk for those who can't. 

Sunday, May 5, 2024, Cinco de Mayo

At 9:30 AM, we begin to load up the car with necessities for our Eugene trip. It is sprinkling a bit, but no real rain coming down yet. Once the wheelchair, walker, jackets, wallets, and a Sparkling Ice Water is in the car, we seatbelt in and off we go. 

Further along the drive, it seemed skies were threatening to rain upon us today. At this point, mountains were peering out from under a moisture bank of white. Maybe rain pants would have been better than the jeans I wore? 

But on we drove. We arrived in Eugene, found our way into Alton Baker Park, and looked for parking near familiar family cars. We could not find any familiar cars, at least so far. Terry chose a spot and pulled in. Looking around, I noticed the rhododendrons were in full bloom, welcoming those who entered.  

Alton Baker was just as beautiful under the gray skies as it is under blue skies, just a different ambiance. 

The foot bridge rises high above the park, allowing visitors a walk through route as well as bicycling. 

Planet replicas are stationed at proper places in relation to the real solar system positions. Information plaques sit in front of the planet, allowing visitors to get a better understanding of our solar system. The faux sun is in this photo, to the right.  

Terry parked the car, grabbed my wheelchair and loaded me up. We headed for the booths at the starting point of the walk. We were greeted by food, including bananas, chips, oranges, and other snack items, plus water to drink along the way. There were sign up booths, and then we saw a face painting tent. 

Sitting at a picnic table, we waited for family members to arrive. 

There is a half-smile under that hoodie. We were sitting in a very cold wind, with the temp around 47 degrees. It was cold, even for Eugene standards. If the wind wasn't there, I believe we would have been okay. 

Family members slowly began arriving. 

Brandy arrived with little Chi Chi sitting in her pouch trying to stay warm. Naked guy came up close behind her, with Dan taking up the rear. Tolsky the Mexican hairless pup had to wear his body suit to make an attempt to keep himself warm. 

His poor toes and legs were turning red as the day moved on. He was one chilly little naked guy. 

Slowly the blue t-shirts began to appear. On them is a cross and a dove, with the words, "Believers working to defeat ALS." The back of the shirt read, "Team Lorenzo" and each family member wore one. Lorenzo looked prepped and ready to roll. 

As we waited for everyone to arrive and the walk to begin, I saw some of the children enjoying the face painting. 

Zyrah was waiting for her unicorn design to be completed by the artist. 

She carefully chose each color and waited for the artist to apply it. 

She was rockin' the unicorn look!

Face painting done. Check. Now, we moved toward the photographer to get photos taken and take some of our own. 

Terry and I were not passing up a chance to get pictures taken with Lorenzo, our focus today. He was happy and seemed to love the day and the activity surrounding him. That is the most important aspect of today. 

Dawn was holding Bella while waiting on the walk to begin.

Bella was just going with the flow. 

Unicorns seemed to be the theme of the day. Little Miss Bella wore her unicorn sweater and pink bow. She was ready to rock the walk. 

Grandson Coby, his wife Delaney, Dawn, her husband Andy, Andy's father Lorenzo, Lorenzo's daughter Natalie, her husband and their four children, granddaughter Jess, her husband Brandon, their daughter Zyrah, granddaughter Kylee and her boyfriend Cam, two friends of Lorenzo, and Terry and I made up Team Lorenzo. After registering, we were finally ready to begin our walk. 

A woman came over the loudspeaker, gave a short speech and welcomed us all. She finally announced we were to begin our walk. And walk we did! 

As we walked, I chatted with Lorenzo. I asked if this was a good turnout for this year, since I had not been able to make it last year. He said yes, a lot more people this year had come out for the walk. The thought made me smile. Looking over the line of people walking, I thought it looked like quite a turnout, although having nothing to compare it to I wasn't sure. 

My great granddaughter, Zyrah, was also very focused on the walk. As Terry pushed me past her, I noticed she had her sign of "Team Lorenzo" facing backward. She noticed this error and turned the sign around, proudly held it for me to see, and went on about her business. 

Her little unicorn-painted face had the look of sheer determination that she would resist all the problems in her way and fight to the end. Yes, all that while mom pushed her in her stroller. She's a real trooper, that girl. 

We fought off the chilly winds and kept strolling through the beautiful park. I looked across the grounds to see a large group walking ahead of us. The sight made me proud. I'm hoping that the money invested in finding a cure will someday come about, as we've lost far too many, including children. 

Maybe someday cancers and muscular dystrophy diseases and all the other serious illnesses that take our loved ones from us will end. The struggle to find a cure for these diseases seem to move on forever, without success. 

Terry pushes a bit faster to get us alongside Lorenzo. Since I have been in my wheelchair, I have teased Lorenzo about having a wheelchair race. Although his is electric, I knew he could whip me soundly, but it would be fun to try. As we approached our side-by-side position, Lorenzo smiled and turned up the speed ... Off he went into the rainy pathways of the park. 

Yes, Lorenzo was in his element, in his joyful place. He had won our race, a small feat that made him giggle. I told him I always knew he could beat me and beat me he did. 

Our walk continued alongside the banks of the Willamette River. We were coming to the point of orbiting the sun, a notion not many can fathom. But here we are, killing it. 

Passing by the river, I noticed how high the water was. 

The park was underwater in 2019, when flood water was consuming a lot of pavement all over Eugene and Springfield. It was crazy. Something I had never seen before. Even with all of our rain in Oregon, growing up in the area showed no signs of flooding the way this storm did. 

Thanks to the local news station, KVAL and local resident Annette Trucke, this photo is of the same area of the park in April of 2019. That is simply a lot of water, even in the eyes of native Oregonians!

Our team continued marching through the concrete pathways, heading toward that finish line. The winds seemed to have died down a bit when walking along the river, but once on the other side of the park, it began to blow and freeze body parts such as hands. Note to self, we need to bring gloves next year. Burr!

The finish line drew near ...

We were across the line, met by cheering workers and ringing cow bells. It was a great time had by all. I will definitely come out next year and do this again with my family. Good times, definitely a much needed, worthwhile goal, and great group to hang with! Yes, I'm a little biased, but what can I say? I have awesome kids and they also have lovely kids and their kids have good kids ... And the beat goes on. 

Not a drop of sweat on my brow (poor Terry), but the day wasn't over yet. We had a taco coming to us! Each person who walked could snag a street taco from the food truck. Terry grabbed each one of us a taco and we spread out as a family on a picnic table in the pavilion. Slowly the rest of the family joined us. 

Quite a few members of the family grouping had to leave. Natalie took off, as did Coby and Delaney. The rest of us chatted, ate, and played with children and dogs. 

Our tacos were gone. Our love for Lorenzo increased and our bodies were chilled. Jessee, Brandon, Terry and I chose to go somewhere to eat. The small street taco did nothing but make us want more for lunch. After choosing a restaurant, we climbed in the car and told Brandon and Jess we would meet them there. 

Cornucopia in downtown Eugene is a great place to eat, but I didn't realize they had a branch in Springfield too. We thought we would give it a try. I would have gone to McDonald's to get out of that cold wind at the park by this point. 

We all ordered food, ate, and headed to Dawn and Andy's house, where Lorenzo had already arrived home as well. Mother's Day is next weekend, so the afternoon was spent discussing what we could all bring. Dawn and Andy are BBQing and the rest of us are bringing various dishes to go with that. Homemade salsa and chips, baked beans, and a sugar free chocolate cake it is!

The meal for next week's gathering has been decided upon and it's time to head home. We have dogs to walk, shows to watch, and relaxation time at hand. Off we went toward our comfortable home in Roseburg. It has been a good day. A cold day, but a good day. 

Terry and I sat to watch a show and then off we went to bed. Tomorrow is Monday, the beginning of a new work week. We hope you all have a wonderful week, working or in your retirement moments. Either way, create a relaxed, beautiful week for yourself! Sending hugs to you all!

Want to donate to ALS under the Team Lorenzo name? Anything and everything helps! You can donate via mail or through the Team Lorenzo website:

Team Lorenzo ALS Walk or sign up under our personal pages:

Vicki's page for Team Lorenzo

Terry's page for Team Lorenzo

OR

Sign up to join the team and walk with us next year!

Personal pages can be created by registering as a team member. No matter how you wish to donate, please do! We know money is tight nowadays, but even $5 will help!