Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Total Raised by The Rockin' Rollers As of Saturday

As you all know, last Saturday I was part of the Spina Bifida Association of Cincinnati's Walk and Roll. This was the 9th year for the event.

While final numbers may not be available for several weeks, we do have a total-to-date for my team, the Rockin' Rollers.

As of when I spoke with Judy Albert, the Walk Committee chairperson for SBAC, our team total was... $2147! That's just our team...and that is with a couple hundred dollars of donations still needing to be collected.

And Judy also tells me that together, all the people involved raised OVER EIGHTY THOUSAND DOLLARS. The goal for SBAC was $70,000! We blew that goal away!

As I noted Friday, coming up this Thursday will be a post to begin Spina Bifida Awareness Month, which goes through all of October here in the United States. As I noted, I'll tell you what it is, how many people are affected, and what can be done to either help deal with the problems that come with it, or outright prevent it.

Courage + Belief = LIFE

Friday, September 25, 2009

Staffmark Downtown HQ Blows Me AWAY!!!!

Without being able to give a final total, I will go ahead and put over the folks at Staffmark, 435 Elm Street, Downtown Cincinnati.

People all over the building, spurred on by my mother, Tereasa Herald, as well as whatever knowledge they have about me, have come up HUGE for Spina Bifida Association of Cincinnati! I will have a final total Sunday for our team.

I was simply blown completely away. As noted before, Staffmark personnel had raised $665 between donations to my mother and to myself IN THREE DAYS. We not only doubled the $690 we had raised before today... but have tripled, and QUADRUPLED IT at least with a couple more hours left in the workday to collect!

This is HUGE for Spina Bifida Association of Cincinnati! Staffmark has blown my expectations of a low fundraising event completely out of the water, almost doubling our team goal!

So, to everyone at Staffmark, especially the second, third, sixth and eighth floors, I say THANK YOU ALL.

Courage + Belief = LIFE

One Down, One To Go - 28 Hours Away!

Even though you're probably reading this at 8 AM or later, I wrote this around 4 AM.

As I noted previously, I did the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes at the World Peace Bell in Newport, Kentucky. I don't know the exact number, but HUNDREDS were there. WKRC-TV 12's Cammy Dierking was there, also and met my friend Lindsay (pictured in the sidebar at right).

By the way, I continue my efforts to raise money for the JDRF. They still have my page up, so feel free to donate anytime.

I also continue my efforts to raise money for Spina Bifida Association of Cincinnati. At the second picture link at right, you will find my fundraising page for that event. That fundraising effort does continue into 2010 according to the website at sbacincy.org. But I plan to leave the page up until I meet my personal goal of $600. (That's right, it's raised from $300 to double that, thanks to help from my mom's office at Staffmark in Downtown Cincinnati I had raised nearly my entire original goal in 3 days, so I decided to challenge myself. I plan to head to Staffmark's offices later today to meet and thank each and every person who donated, individually and the office teams as a whole. I was told some other things were being done to raise money for the Rockin' Rollers team.)

As I get set to walk on Saturday morning, I think it's a good time to put everything into perspective. I'm just one of 185,000 people in the entire United States of America who has Spina Bifida and there are thousands more around the world - perhaps even a few million.

Coming October 1st, I will do a blog post specifically with the talking points about Spina Bifida - what it is, how it affects people, and some more of the current statistics that are out today. You might be shocked at just how serious of a problem Spina Bifida still is - and how it can easily go undiagnosed for 20 years or more!

I'll try to put it in laymen's terms and avoid as much medical terminology as I possibly can.

Courage + Belief = LIFE

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Got this one from Busy Bee Suz

Before I play 15 Words, I wanted to explain it... I got this idea from Suz of Day By Day, My Life As A Busy Bee fame, who in turn got it from Caution Flag of The Human Race 600 fame. Sums up my Wednesday morning pretty well. Basically, you use fifteen, AND ONLY 15, words to describe...whatever is on your mind.

Three hours sleep.
Not a good thing.
Need some more sleep.
That, or some caffeine.

Courage + Belief = LIFE

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Walk To Cure Diabetes Day

If you remember, last June, I did the American Cancer Society Relay For Life in Union. Today, it's time for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Walk to Cure Diabetes in Newport, KY.

After this week, I focus on a cause that I am 100 percent passionate about...Spina Bifida. I'll be doing the Walk and Roll in Harrison, Ohio. That's going to be next Saturday morning at 8 AM.

Whew...I'll be tired after these...

Courage + Belief = LIFE

Friday, September 18, 2009

Friday Freestyle

So it's been awhile
For the Friday Freestyle
But I'm back again
So let's get goin

So my Bengals lost last week
Yo, that's alright, it's only week one
We can get that loss back
Time to play the Pack

Year ago this week
Ike blew through my hometown
No power, no food for many
We all learned how to rough it
I got lucky, only lost it for about 18 hours
Some went without a lot longer

Special person in my life
Who I miss and love to bits
Not bein with her is the pits, but
It'll resolve itself real quick

Guess that's all I got to say
For this week's Friday freestyle
Stay blessed
Get rid of the stress
And I'll see ya in seven days


Courage + Belief = LIFE

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Still Need TONS Of Help!

Hey guys!

As you know a couple of major fundraising efforts are happening on my part in the next two weeks. I am doing the JDRF Walk To Cure Diabetes this weekend in Newport, KY and I'm nowhere near my online goal of $100. If you can help with that, click to the right on the top picture of myself and Lindsay.

Also, the following week I switch gears to concentrate on the Spina Bifida Association of Cincinnati Walk and Roll 2009. If you're able to help with this, PLEASE click to the right on the second picture.

I realize both walks fall within one week and it's a lot to ask you to support both...But if you even give $5, it would help me TREMENDOUSLY!

Thanks y'all and remember...

Courage + Belief = LIFE

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Hilarity Ensued Yesterday.

I was in Cincinnati yesterday with my friend and brother from another mother, Mikey. This story is from after our four hour excursion around Northgate.

I had to wait 20-25 minutes for a bus. When it arrived (it was late due to traffic), I boarded as usual, and paid my $2.25 fare. Before I could get into one of the handicapped wheelchair areas, the driver took off and the chair went rolling! I wasn't strapped down! Whoops...after laughing about it for about 3 minutes, I was finally tied in and we left...

Courage + Belief = LIFE

Thursday, September 3, 2009

My Downtown Cincinnati Experience of Tuesday

Imagine this: 3:25 PM, downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. You're in a wheelchair. You're walking across a busy street, one of the major arteries on the north side of downtown. Suddenly, someone suspicious starts following you. What do you do?

That happened to me Tuesday afternoon, at that time, in that city.

Here's what happened. I was outside of Cincinnati's major public access facility, Media Bridges. This is in the 1100 block of Race Street, right on the edge of the Over-The-Rhine district of Cincinnati. I was talking to my girlfriend Sheena but I still recall all of these events in my head, so nothing is left out of the situation.

I could see this guy standing in the street. I think nothing of it, so I start to cross Central Parkway (basically, those not from here might think, that's just 11th Street, but its given name is Central Parkway).

Now I'm not writing this to slam either Media Bridges, the Cincinnati Police or Fire/EMS departments, or any part of my hometown. Listen: I love the state I was born in. I love Cincinnati. But this was a scary sight at 3:25 PM on a Tuesday afternoon. Broad daylight, and this guy is out in the MIDDLE OF CENTRAL FRICKIN' PARKWAY! I still wonder how he wasn't hit all this time.

I decide to head on south, back toward the central business district area. I'm not feeling too comfortable about standing there at that moment even for a second. This guy begins to follow me. Not cool. I turn and walk a little quicker. He's still following me.

I cross Court Street (which you from outside of Cincy might think is 10th, but...the courthouse is at its east end, thus its given name once again). The guy stays on the north side of the street, BUT HE'S STILL BEHIND ME. At this point, I'm freaked. I call Cincinnati PD. As I'm giving his description, the guy has come across Court and is now headed straight across Vine Street, still in my general direction.

I'm not sure whether he realized I was on the phone to police, but he turned and walked south on Vine. I didn't follow him. I feared a trap. I tell police he's gone, but then a familiar response overtakes me.

It's that feeling I get before I go into the syncopal episodes I sometimes have. So now, here I am, standing on the corner of Court and Vine, and I'm having a panic attack. Great. I tell the dispatcher to send me medics to the location. I'm transferred to the medical side of Cincinnati dispatch, tell the operator my symptoms, location and phone number, and hang up.

At this point, medics arrive within 3 minutes. (Where's the police? You'd think dispatch would still send the police to this particular medical emergency, given the circumstances.) After a quick check of my vitals to make sure I'm in no imminent danger, of course my ass high tails it straight out of there, AWAY from the OTR area.

Here's the point of this blog, which is two-fold:

1) to vent the feelings I still have, which are of fear, distress, and quite frankly, a mixture of these and illness in my stomach, and;

2) to make a crucial point about the state of my beloved city.

Now, I'm no idiot. I KNOW OTR can be a dangerous area. I have re-iterated this several times since. Hell, even the MEDICS told me anything north of Central Parkway is a dangerous area!

But in broad daylight, near a major public access facility, doesn't the public, even someone from across the river, have some right to feel safe? Some places even in OTR don't need a 24/7 armed guard. In the case of Media Bridges, where there's lots and lots of expensive electrical equipment at any given time inside the building...I'd say this is one, and the area within a block or so of that building should be as well. Just my opinion.

And here we have Cincinnati City Council squabbling over POLICE STAFFING. WAKE UP CINCINNATI COUNCIL! If someday, someone gets robbed, shot, beaten, whatever on that street corner...well it's gonna be an "I Told You So" moment.

The signature seems especially appropriate today for some reason...

Courage + Belief = LIFE