A local couple raised $25,000 – and their team just under $41,000 – for the Walk for ALS on June 13 at Waterloo Public Square.
Brenda’s Battalion, the team that joined Elora couple Brenda Power and Dennis Zinger on the walk, was comprised of 120 supporters, making up half of the total 240 walk participants.
“People have just been so amazing around this, wanting to do something,” Power said. “They just want to be aware and that’s what we’re trying to do, make more people aware of it and this just tells a story.”
Power was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in January.
“Because I think it’s been one of those diseases, like the ice bucket challenge kind of brought it to the forefront, but even when I was diagnosed my 23-year-old son went ‘Oh, what is that really mom?’” she explained.
“They hear it but they don’t really know a lot about it.”
The disease is a difficult one to diagnose, often involving ruling out every other possibility before the conclusion is ALS, Zinger explained.
For Power, it took about a year and a half of tests before her doctors diagnosed her with ALS.
The disease, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, “Is a rapidly progressive and ultimately fatal neuromuscular disorder that causes the degeneration of a select group of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord,” according to the Walk for ALS website.
“As the nerve cells die, people with ALS lose control of their muscles, which makes breathing, eating, even smiling almost impossible.”
The disease manifests differently in each patient and for Power it started out in her legs, so she now uses walker or a cane for support to keep her mobile.
She credits her level of mobility to her massage therapist Allyssa Metlin at Optimum Integrative Health Centre in Fergus and her physiotherapists Tim Childs and Jenn Figg from Impact Physiotherapy and Performance, also in Fergus.
Despite the therapy, Power said she decided to use a wheelchair for the majority of the walk because the 5km distance was difficult for her.
“Everyone took a turn pushing me so I was able to have fun and talk to everybody,” Power said.
The couple sent out about 450 emails to contacts, family and friends asking for support and Zinger said he received 188 pledges to make up the $25,000.
From there the support travelled by word of mouth and Power said people from all walks of life came to join her on the journey.
“People just kept coming and coming and coming and I’m like ‘Oh my god how did you know about it?’” Power said. “Even a co-worker that worked in Waterloo … she came towards the end of the walk, she had her husband park and she ran over to me and wanted to hug me and … I hadn’t worked with her for like five years and so she had heard and she wanted to come over and give me a hug and it was so amazing.”
And Power said the support didn’t end at the walk.
“It’s affected the whole community,” she said. “Everyone in the community is knocking on my door and asking ‘what can I do?’
“It’s like Grand Central Station. They come with food, they come to just sit and talk, they come with coffees, lattes. Everyday I have somebody here.”
One of her projects is to create memory boxes and quilts for her grandchildren, Power explained. And when she emailed a local church asking if there was anyone available to help finish a quilt she was overwhelmed by the response.
“There was someone on my doorstep within half an hour,” Power remembered. “She said, ‘I’m here, what do you need help with?’”
Power’s daughter, son-in-law and nine-month-old grandson recently moved in with Power and Zinger from Peterborough to offer support.
“They just moved in with us because she said, ‘Your battle’s my battle and I want to be there,’” Power said.
On Mother’s Day, May 9, Zinger and Power participated in the Peterborough Walk for ALS, where Power is originally from, and the team raised $7,468.
Next year the couple hopes to participate in both walks once again – and surpass this year’s fundraising total.
