On Sunday, October 14th, 2018, I had the pleasure of participating in the 10th Annual rideATAXIA Philly. I have been riding, raising funds and enjoying the event for the past few years now. This year was extra special to me because this October marked the 5th year since my diagnosis with FA. So when registration came out, I jumped at the opportunity to build a team again and get ready for the ride!
When it was time to get ready to go to the ride, I put on my rider jersey, my gear and ventured over to Montgomery County Community College with around 600 other riders. I participated in the 4-mile ride, which started at 10am. Alongside me, while I rode this year were my parents. I was also happy to have my grandma in attendance to support the FA community and me. My team, Team Head, was able to raise close to $3,000 this year and hope to raise that next year too.
Slim's Journey 5k run/2.5k walk was held in Warrenton, MO at College United Methodist Church on September 22nd, 2018 for its 7th and final event. Julie Myers and 6 other board members, Jeff Myers, Jodi Owens, Nicole Hardey, Kelly Hill, Gina Licameli and Kristi Zinn, worked hard in organizing this event to success. The volunteers at the booths, the setting up/taking down of signs, the finish line, the firefighters, the speakers, the photographer, the homemade breakfast for all the racers....all of it. It was amazing and very well put together! It takes time, money, dedication, success and failures to make an event like this come to fruition.
My family and I hosted our annual fundraiser on September 7. This year the fundraiser was called "Friedreich's for Nobode" and was held at the Owenego Beach and Tennis Club in Branford, CT. We were joined by over 200 friends, family, and community members.
This past week, FARA partnered with the Bob Allison Ataxia Research Center (BAARC) at the University of Minnesota to screen The Ataxian. This event brought almost 200 people from the community together to screen the film, learn about Ataxia and participate in a panel discussion including Kyle Bryant and Dr. Christophe Lenglet, a University of Minnesota neuroscientist studying Friedreich's Ataxia.
Once again, my favorite day of the year, the 16th Annual Fuzzy Buzzy Golf Tournament. The tournament began in 1986 by Uncle Buzzy with a few guys having some fun and playing golf. As the years passed, Buzzy wanted to put some meaning behind the tournament. He decided to make the Fuzzy Buzzy an annual charity event to raise money for the Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance. The first year about 50 players raised $2,400 for FARA. This year, the course was completely full with 148 golfers and for the first time I had to turn away foursomes, and we raised $21,000.