Update

The "Walk to D'Feet ALS" was a great success. I don't have the final team total for "Claudia's Champions" but I did receive this email from the ALS Association:

"On behalf of the entire Indiana ALS community, we want to say "Thank You!" for making our 8th annual Central Indiana Walk to D'Feet ALS such a success! We are grateful for the tremendous commitment and support each of you demonstrated last weekend and leading up to the event in Indianapolis....it was a glorious day in so many ways!

I am very pleased to share that our preliminary Central Indiana Walk results have exceeded $85,000. This includes almost $34,000 in on-line credit card donations, everything we collected at the walk, and what was sent to us before hand. This does not yet include many contributions still in route to us from Team Captains and individuals. We extend our deepest appreciation to you, your family, your friends, your co-workers, and our local volunteers and corporate sponsors!

And the giving isn't over yet.....Historically, we continue to receive a significant volume of contributions following the walk, and this has already been the case over the past several days. Many of you will also receive additional donations in the days and weeks ahead, and we ask that you handle those just as you did donations received prior to the walk. You may still enter checks on-line and watch your team tally grow, or forward them directly to us to be entered. Whatever you do send to the ALS office, be sure to clearly indicate the Team Captain or Team Name and we'll make sure the proper team gets credit for the funds raised. You may also continue to encourage supporters to make credit card donations to the walk on-line.

Please send outstanding donations to:

The ALS Association, Indiana Chapter

6525 E. 82nd Street, Suite 115

Indianapolis, IN 46250

(Reminder - please convert cash collected to checks and note the Team Name!)

I know many of you are eager to know your team total, but that takes a bit more time. Over the next few weeks, ALSA staff and volunteers will be entering all the donations received from the walk into the on-line system. As we tackle this process you will see your team dollars increase, just as the Central Indiana Walk "virtual thermometer" will also continue to rise and show the overall success the walk. We appreciate your patience, as this process does take some time. Once we complete this process, we will begin to send out thank you letters and tax receipts.

For the photographers among the crowd, if you have a couple good digital photos from the Indianapolis walk that you would like to share with us, please send them to walk@alsaindiana.org (jpeg format under 200K resolution preferred). We will include them with the official team photos, which we should have posted soon as a "photo album" on the walk site home page. We'll send a message to everyone once they are up, and include a brief update on Walk results.

Finally, if you have any wrap-up questions in the weeks ahead, please contact our office at walk@alsaindiana.org or by phone at 317-915-9888, or toll-free at 888-508-3232.

Congratulations to all - we couldn't have done this without you!

Lark StarkExecutive DirectorThe ALS Association of Indiana"

It has been a challenging month. I've been struggling with a lot of pain, especially in my neck and shoulders and the pain seems to exacerbate my fatigue. It doesn't help that the medications I take to ease the muscle spasms make me sleepy....

My sister and her husband were trapped in their home for 5 days due to the Rancho Bernardo (CA) "Witch" fire raging all around them. Their home and immediate area were spared, but hundreds of homes were lost within a 3 mile-radius. Thanks to everyone who joined with me in lifting them up in prayer. I have seen some video that helps explain to me why they were unable to evacuate. Imagine sitting in bumper-to-bumper, stand-still traffic with flames raging on 70-mile-an-hour winds all around you. Here is a video of what that looked like (filmed in Rancho Bernardo the morning -- 3 am -- of the evacuation).

I am so grateful that they are both OK, and that they did not loose their home.

I have Phillip here this weekend. It is growing increasingly difficult to have him here with just myself, Amy and Christopher. I have always said that the appropriate ratio is "two adults per autistic kid" and we are WAY behind the curve on that one! It is so incredibly frustrating for me to have such difficulty speaking (when the boys already have such a hard time listening!). I find the situation truly depressing. I want to enjoy the boys, but I am finding it harder and harder to even interact with them :(

Catherine is doing well at ISU and has even gotten an on-campus job. I miss her terribly, though and wish she was here at Ball State instead of in Terre Haute. I saw her over Labor Day weekend and may see her at Thanksgiving...and hopefully at Chrismas. When life is measured in months, that doesn't seem often enough.

Through it all, I am still blessed. I have a hand full of wonderful friends who have been present and supportive in tangible ways and I cannot put into words how much this means to me. Thanks Sharyll, Sheryl and Julia. Love you!

Claudia