Heading to the Slammer – Give Me A Ring, Drop Me A Line, Get the Dogs Barking

                Two months from today, I will go “behind bars” for the seventh time in support of the Muscular Dystrophy Association as part of their annual Lock-Up fundraiser.  As the clock counts down to my sentence, I want to share some of the experiences I’ve been blessed to have as I have come to understand the work of the MDA and the reasons I continue to participate in this fundraiser.  Naturally, as I share these tales, I ask each of you reading (and your friends and their friends…) to go to my Lock-Up website and give what you can.  I am not out soliciting to major donors only (I’ll take those too!).  I am reaching out to everyone who will invest some dollars to a cause that makes a lot of sense – helping people live as independently as possible.

                Today, I want to share with you about Nancy and Wilson.  In the weeks leading up to last year’s Lock-Up, the Nashville MDA office provided the contact information of us “jailbirds” to some of the individuals being served by the MDA in our area.  I was so happy to hear from some of them and learn more about what the MDA does for them.  Nancy was one such individual who sent me a personal letter during the early days of the 2014 fundraising period.  While we often think of the MDA serving “Jerry’s Kids,” we must also remember that those kids grow to be adults.  The MDA serves people of all ages, regardless of when they were diagnosed with a neuromuscular disease.  Nancy has seen the MDA at work in her life for several years, having been diagnosed with muscular dystrophy as an infant.  Now an independent adult, she wrote to me about the equipment and services she is provided (much at our own Vanderbilt Hospital) and some of the activities that made her childhood with muscular dystrophy an easier experience.  As last year’s Lock-Up got closer, Nancy gave me a call one day while she was volunteering at the local MDA office.  It was a first for me.  I had met some of the individuals and families at the actual Lock-Up events over the years, but none had ever called me.  It was such a pleasant surprise and made me tear up in the middle of my office.  Nancy told me more about her situation and the valuable help provided by the MDA.  She reminded me how important each dollar raised is and how important it is that we equip every individual and every family that must deal with these diseases.  I hung up the phone feeling an extra charge for the work to be done (click here to join in that work) and newfound devotion for one more person who I know needs our help.  When I arrived at the 2014 Lock-Up, I received the best surprise of the season – Nancy was there in person!  But, she wasn’t alone.  That day, I also met Wilson.  Nancy had mentioned him in her letter.  Wilson is Nancy’s service dog – a beautiful white lab who helps her inside and outside her home.  He was so sweet and friendly and was almost as strong an ambassador as Nancy herself.  The two of them make a great team, and they remind me that helping folks with serious diseases like muscular dystrophy is indeed a team effort.  I am glad the MDA made me a small part of their team.  As much help as Wilson is to Nancy, she and many others like her still need the MDA’s help to maintain their wheelchairs, cover the high costs of regular treatment, and provide other equipment and services that the rest of us often don’t understand.  Likewise, the MDA needs our help to make all of that possible. 

                For Nancy and the many others I have come to know over the years with neuromuscular disease, and for the many others I have never met, I ask you to support my bail-raising fund to help the Muscular Dystrophy Association in their mission to end neuromuscular disease.  Each donation is tax-deductible, and you can even post it in honor or in memory of a loved one.  My website is secure, but I can also accept your contribution by cash or check.  E-mail me at prez_chucko@hotmail.com if we need to arrange that.  Let’s make a muscle and make a difference TODAY!