When thinking about my favorite people, my college roommate Emily, her siblings, and their spouses dominate the list. Lucky for me, I've been symbolically adopted by the lot of them and taken my rightful place among them as a "Seestor"! Make no bones about it, this is a big deal to me. Every person in their family is crush-worthy. I get woozy when I'm around more than 2 of them at once. This is no joke as they make up a huge group of people. HUGE. Remember that show, Eight is Enough? Well, Emily's parents didn't think so! It's a good thing they had more than 8 kids because Emily is the 2nd youngest. I'm really glad they didn't stop with Em because one of my favorite memories includes the "baby" in the family: Seestor Amy.
Oh, darling Amy! She officially became one of our college group of peeps when she stayed at our off-campus house a week before Emily's 21st birthday. The timeline is only important in that there may have been a run-in with the police, who were doing I.D. checks at our favorite little bar in town, and there may have been people running away on foot from the police and some of those people may have been caught. There may have even been a fundraiser to pay for the tickets issued for underage drinking and running the eff away from the scene. That's a story for another day, though. Oh man, is it ever a story! I mean, maybe it's a story and maybe it's not. Could be, or I could be making it up. But I'm not, so keep that between us.
Amy & Emily, at Em's wedding. This isn't their mugshot. Not that they have one.
Joking aside, I'm really writing this post for a serious reason. One of their older sisters, Nancy, got diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis fourteen years ago. I remember being in our living room at college with Emily when she got the news. It was devastating. Nancy is an incredible person. Perhaps without intending to be, she's also an inspiration to not only her whole family, but to everyone around her, including the adopted seestor typing in this blog post (me!).
Every year since Nancy was diagnosed, Amy has been raising money towards a cure for Multiple Sclerosis by getting pledges for her participation in the annual Walk MS. It was something she could do to really show support for her seestor.
This disease does not discriminate: Nearly two years ago, in May 2008, Amy was also diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.
In her own words:
I wondered where my donations went, what I was REALLY walking for, and if the MS Society REALLY utilized their money/resources wisely, since Nancy was not getting any better.
Then with my diagnosis came the answer...there was immediate assistance from the Society guiding me through each step of the process of now living with MS. All of that monetary help from every sibling, friend, spouse or loved one of someone with MS revealed itself. It was in the financial assistance of my medication; the check-ups from RNs on a regular basis; and the continuous support of people who truly understand all that I'm going through now.
I want to do something for the people who have been diagnosed and because I want to do everything to prevent more people from learning what it means to live with this disease. Today, there is no cure for MS, but hopefully with the support from you, we'll be that much closer to finding a cure!
Nancy, was diagnosed with MS... to everyone's surprise. She has shown amazing strength and determination in battling her illness, so I had a guide as to how to deal with adversity. I've been relying on her example when dealing with my own illness; I can only hope that I'm making her proud.
Nancy & Amy. You make ALL of us proud!
This year, I'm joining their team & walking with them! Seestors are flying in from all over: Emily from California, their sister Debbie from Boston and I think a few others, too (they have a big family)! Some of our college friends will be there as well and I'm looking forward to being a part of this positive movement towards a cure.
Just as they did last year, Nancy and Amy have inspired me to offer the following:
Go on, click HERE and give up some cash for my beautiful seestors Nancy & Amy, and for everyone else affected by Multiple Sclerosis. I have less than 3 weeks to make my goal, and really need your help!
E-mail me after you've donated (or leave a comment) with your information and donation amount so we can get this whole thing rolling.
All of the following images ©HouseofJulesPhotography. All rights reserved. Ahem, please don't steal.
Mini-Gallery:
All images ©HouseofJulesPhotography. All rights reserved. Ahem, please don't steal.
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1 comment:
My mom has relapse & remittance MS and fortunately she is in remittance right now. It can be a hard thing to deal with, but your friends sound very strong. I'll keep them in my prayers!
Great post!
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