Betty's Run... Again

It's that time of year, the running and fund-raising season. Mine is Betty's Run for ALS. As in years past, I am seeking donations and people to do the run with me. I almost feel guilty about asking again. After all, according to prognosis, the run in 2015 should have been my last. I'm supposed to be dead now. I'm not sure if this continued living is a good thing, or if people simply think I'm running some sort of scam.

Of course this is humour. I know full well what this disease can do and the vagaries with which it does it. There are many good things about being alive, not the least of which is my ability to get out and do this kind of fund-raising for ALS. As my son says, just because there's no ice bucket doesn't mean we can forget about this terrible scourge.

The issues is one of donation fatigue. With so many organizations, both large and small, vying for donor dollars, it's hard to be heard above the din. Cancer is the big one, especially breast cancer. Childhood diseases are way up there too. Nothing like a sick kid to get people out and running. Then there are the other rare illnesses, the ones with long names and difficult diagnoses. All of them are asking you for money.

So how do you decide where to put down your donation? For me, it's simple. I have ALS. That's where all my money goes. For those immediately close to me, it's also fairly simple. They know what ALS is doing to me, and they support me, both in fundraising and in life. The problem is that the further away from the source you get, the more likely you are to see other things as more important. After all, curing cancer is way up there, since there are so many affected by it.

I'm not going to go into the logic and detail of why one disease should get relatively more than another. It's an unfair and unkind contest. Instead, I am going to ask, once again, for another year, that you support me and Team Terrific in Betty's Run for ALS. Click here.