I'm feeling nostalgic and unfocused this morning so please bear with me.
When I started this blog, I had no idea what I was doing and never dreamed I'd find kindred souls out there, most of whom I still haven't met. I didn't know there were already 3 gazillion blogs on the interwebs, I just knew my
cousin had a 'blog' and her stories made me laugh. Over time, I started clicking on titles listed under her caption: "Blogs Worth Your Time." I found and fell in love with the writing of a guy who calls himself
TwoBusy. The more I explored, the more connections I made. From TwoBusy, who also writes for a group blog,
DadCentric, it was a short leap to
Always Home and Uncool.
When I started venturing out further into the sphere, I noticed pictures of babies on blogger's sidebars with pleas to make donations to help. I remember sending an email to a blogger asking her if she knew the parents of the baby and if this 'donation' thing was legitimate. She told me it was because she'd heard from another blogger who'd read about this baby on another blog whose author knew another blogger who'd been a long-time reader of the blog of the parent of the baby who had some health issue that was devastating this whole group of bloggers.
I was skeptical and, to this day, shy away from these types of donation requests.
Enter Kevin McKeever, the man behind
Always Home and Uncool. Kevin is a dandy writer and a helluva funny guy. He's also the father of a teenage daughter who has Juvenile Dermatomyositis, a form of
Juvenile Myositis. JM is a rare, devastating, and incurable autoimmune disease affecting approximately 5,000 children in the United States.
In 2010, I relentlessly and shamelessly badgered you to vote for the
Cure JM Foundation in The Pepsi Refresh Challenge. Because of you and so many others just like you, Cure JM won a $250,000 grant.
In 2011, I had written a
silly post for Kevin's birthday. When I went over to his blog to grab a link I learned that Megan had a flare-up and was in Chicago undergoing a battery of tests to determine the cause. What began as a bit of fun at Kevin's expense and another more subtle call to action turned into something quite different. It was the day when the full weight of this disease settled over me. Yes, I'd wept for the children who'd died from this disease but I'd never had my world turned upside-down in a heartbeat because an internet friend's child was in trouble. Again.
That's this disease and the uncertainty the families and friends of these children live with every day.
Last year I wrote about JM, how you could help, and most importantly, I
poked fun of Kevin again. The all-volunteer
Cure JM Foundation uses the weekend of its annual meeting to host its biggest fundraiser. Traditionally, this event has been a road race. Last year, Rhonda, the runner in the family, was out of commission so Kevin stepped up to run his first race. He whined about training; he kvetched about his lack of coordination, and he actually had me worried that he was going to end up splattered on a busy road somewhere in Baltimore.
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| He's almost at the finish line and while he does look like he's ready to collapse, he finished! |
This year, if everyone stays healthy, the entire family will be running in the
Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon & Mini Marathon on July 21st. Rhonda's got the half marathon covered while Kevin, Megan, and Calvin will shuffle through the 3-mile race.
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| Megan and Kevin are definitely mentally prepared for this year's race. |
Like most of you, I was raised to give back. Because we were poor, that meant giving our time. When I reached adulthood and had a measure of financial security, I was able make small donations as well as volunteer. As I've gotten older and my energy has waned, I now tend to only make donations. In a lifetime of giving, I've never once taken the time to think about what any of it means to me. Like many of you, it's just something I've always done. Before last year's Cure JM event, I sat down and did some pondering. We support a lot of charities with American or National in their names. We also support local organizations because we can see the need. On some level, I'm passionate about all of them.
What I realized late last summer was this: not one of them captures my enthusiasm or heart in a way that makes me feel as though I've done something of real value. Except Cure JM. I've written more posts about juvenile myositis than any other subject (photos of birds don't count as writing). Even my post about my
fantasy lunch with Jeff Gordon was really all about trying to convince him to have his foundation adopt Cure JM to give it greater visibility.
Happy birthday, Kevin. Thank you for making that leap into your blog one of the most meaningful things I've ever done in the blogosphere.
Want to help this 'orphan' disease and these kids? Kevin's written his own
birthday post which is far less strange than mine. You can also whip out your credit card and hop over to the secure McKeever family
fundraising page.
The best way to ensure your donation doesn't cost Cure JM 3% in credit card fees is to mail your donation to their main address (please write McKeever Family in the memo section):
The Cure JM Foundation
Attn: 2013 Chicago Fundraiser
836 Lynwood Drive
Encinitas, CA 92024
Thank you.
