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Hey all,
Just wanted to thank everyone again so much for all the support and letters and emails and, of course, for all the donations! With your help, I made and exceeded the goal of $400 towards finding a cure for MS! My mom created a website that shares some history and info, along with some great pictures of me and my step dad in our first ride on the MS 150. Here is the link www.foundus.com/ms150/
I had a great time on the MS150, but needless to say, there are parts of me that I am still wishing weren’t quite so sore! My little brother and a few others are planning on joining me next year, so I guess that means I have to go through all that again! Man, the first day was incredible and very long for me. 104 miles and 8 hours on a bicycle will put a hurting on ya! I can’t tell you how cool it is though, after you are so sore and tired when you come in the last 2 miles in La Grange and there are still people there along the road in clapping for you and whooping for you. All of a sudden, you have a new surge of energy to propel you the last few minutes up the roadway and you can’t help but smile because you know you made it. In spite of every excuse you could think of and wanted to use, you find yourself using whatever you can to make it just a few more miles.
The second day starting out was the hardest. Let me tell you, after being on the road for 12 hours (including lunches, breaks, and just OMG I have to stop and rest) and getting about 2 hours of sleep because the guy next to you snored all night makes you REALLY not want to get on that bike at 5am the next morning! LOL
I think I have told everyone in my past letters that my “pedal partner” for the MS this year is Misty McCullough. She is Tammy’s cousin, Micah’s wife. She is suffering from a subform of MS, which her husband describes to me as MS on steroids. Please keep her and her family in your prayers as she continues the treatments to try and help her. They have two children and Misty has already become legally blind now and is only in her mid 20s. I share this with you again, to give you a glimpse of how inspiring it is to do something like this, which is so challenging. No matter what excuse or challenge you have, there is someone riding this ride, even if they can only make it one day or halfway, who is worse off or has a more legitimate excuse than you.
After my first day, exhausted, hungry and dirty, I sat down to eat at a table with a few other people. One of which was a volunteer who thanked me for riding that day. I thanked him for being one of the volunteers that helped make this possible and cheer us on, to which he told me a little story about how he became a volunteer this year. He told me how his wife has been diagnosed with MS for the past nine years, but this past year she has become better and felt healthier than in a long time. I am sure God is using his wife and all of us everyday. He told me that she decided to ride the MS 150, which by the way is actually 170 miles or 180 if you take an optional challenge route through the park. She called the MS society and asked if she could take her husband’s place, which they normally don’t allow, but of course, they wouldn’t turn down her request once they found out she has MS. He told me she rode that day with a T-shirt that says,
“I have MS, that’s why I ride…”
Now, after hearing that, how can you possibly be concerned about anything going on with you? There are so many heartfelt and uplifting stories that you stay uplifted constantly throughout the ride. Talk about close to 20,000 people all excited and full of positive energy. It is now a week later and let me tell you that all I remember is the positive. My butt still hurts a little after sitting down for a while, but as one of the signs along the ride says,… We only have to endure 2 days of pain… we are the lucky ones…
I want to thank you
all again for the inspiration and support that ya’ll have given
me throughout this entire journey and I just hope that God will
continue to use this opportunity to share his message with
people who cannot hear it. It is truly amazing to see people
that have this disease praise God and give him the glory for all
that he does in our lives. So many of us would understand why
someone with a
I just want to thank God for all his blessings in my life and for giving me the opportunity to use this experience to change my life for the better and in whatever other ways he sees fit.
May God Bless you and keep you and yours,
Brian Easterwood
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