Work(s) in Progress

Tuskegee Airmen

I sat next to a hero on my flight to Washington DC on Wednesday but I did not know that at the time. I was assigned to an aisle seat in the economy class cabin. My great hope was that the person in the middle seat would be petite, quiet and recently showered. Instead there was a massive man in the seat next to mine. His breathtakingly beautiful wife was crammed against the window. I feared it would be a very long flight.

A flight attendant from the first class cabin took great interest in the couple sitting next to me. She checked on them regularly and ensured their every need was met. From their conversation, I learned that the man sitting next to me was one of the Tuskegee Airmen who had flown in World War II. He and his wife had moved to Colorado in the 1940s. He worked as a pilot for United Airlines for more than 20 years. Indeed, he had trained the captain of our flight that day. As we approached Washington DC, the flight attendant announced that we had a hero in our midst. She told his story to a round of thunderous applause.

My seatmate and his comrades were honored in Washington DC. President Bush and Congress awarded the Tuskegee Airmen with the Congressional Gold Medal.

The Amazing Martha

This post was first posted to my main blog but it most certainly deserves to be posted here as well. Martha is one of my heroes. Every day she inspires me to be a better person.

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I have written about my friend Martha before. She is always doing for others. She sent an email plea earlier this week asking for support for a young girl in her community. This is a very sad situation.  It seems that societally we have lost our ability to cope with accidents. There must always be blame. Someone must be at fault.  Someone must pay. Luckily, before the public lynching can begin there are  people like Martha to stand for peace, for compassion, for hope, and for kindness. 

Here is Martha's email.

Dear Friends:

I am writing to ask for your support of a campaign in the community of Berthoud, CO with the goal of lending support to a very special young lady who was recently involved in a tragic accident.

Michelle Berra is a student at Berthoud High School. She is an amazing young woman who many describe as "wonderful" and "an inspiration to many". Michelle is a committed student, a good friend and a caring and loving individual. Below is Michelle's story:

On Monday, January 15, Michelle was driving home from a friend's house where she and others had gathered to watch movies. As she headed south on a dark county road, a terrible accident occurred. Michelle was driving the car that hit Tyler Carron and Nikko Landeros as they were working to change a flat tire on their vehicle. As noted earlier, there is no lighting on this county road. Due to the extreme weather conditions in Berthoud, the boy's vehicle could not pull out of the traffic lane due to snow piles in the emergency lanes. And, due to the make of the boy's vehicle - with a back door that swings open and covers hazard lights on the left side of the vehicle - and the boys efforts to work on the flat tire on the right side of the vehicle, there was little if any visual warning as Michelle topped the crest of the hill on her way home that evening. This was an unimaginable accident that could have happened to any one of us who would be heading down that road that night.

As a parent, I shudder at the thought that this could have happened to me or much worse - my child. Immediately after impact, Michelle found the presence of mind and body to leave her vehicle and go to the aid of the injured students. She went first to Nikko Landeros who was lying in the roadway and calling out for help. Nikko told Michelle that he was cold and Michelle immediately removed her coat and placed it around Nikko to keep him warm. She used a phone from the next person on the scene and had the ability to call 911 and explain exactly where the accident occurred. Michelle stayed with Nikko until she was asked to help with Tyler Carron. When asked by the emergency personnel, Michelle went over to Tyler and held him still while the emergency personnel worked in loading Nikko into the ambulance. Once Nikko was secure in the ambulance and the emergency personnel were free to return to Tyler, Michelle was relieved of her caregiving duties.

As Michelle's parents arrived on the scene, Michelle was then asked to leave the accident site and proceeded home to tend to her own mental and emotional injuries. As expected, her recovery has been slow but little by little Michelle is resuming a life that is anything but normal. One cannot imagine just what Michelle and her family have been enduring for the past many weeks. Michelle credits her recovery, of sorts, to many in her circle of family and friends. "I've received nothing but kind words of support", she stated in an interview with the Berthoud Weekly Surveyor.

Two weeks ago the Larimer Country District Attorney's office announced that they had concluded their investigation on the accident and were proceeding to issue a summons to Michelle, charging her with two counts of careless driving resulting in bodily injury. If convicted, Michelle will face Class 1 misdemeanor traffic offenses that may carry the possibility of 10 days to one year in jail, a fine, points against her driver's license, probation and/or community service. As a friend to the Berra family, I am writing to you to ask for your support of this amazing young lady. I know that Michelle had no intent on harming anyone on January 15. As stated before whoever came over that hill that evening could have been in the same situation. This was a terrible accident and each of us feels for all the victims that were involved on January 15.

Support from far and wide has been overwhelming for the two boys who lost their legs in the accident. To date, close to $500,000 has been raised from community events and individual donors with the goal of helping Tyler Carron and Nikko Landeros with medical, emotional and other needs that they will endure in the days and months ahead. As a resident of Berthoud, I have never been prouder to see the outpouring of love and support for these injured teens. Even the Berra family has been working behind the scenes, on each and every community event, to assist in whatever way possible. The have called on family and friends to help in the fundraising effort and have themselves raised over $6,000 for the injured teens.

The Berra family has never asked for any support from the community but the time has come for each of us to reach out to them and lend support in the days and months ahead. Although Michelle suffered no physical injuries from the accident on January 15, her mental state and emotional well being has been shaken beyond belief. She is involved in extensive counseling which is not covered by her insurance. This counseling is expensive and will continue for many months to come. I am writing to you and asking you to lend your support to the Berra family in the days ahead. Can you imagine if this was your family? Michelle and her family are in need of kind words and deeds, letters of support and funding that is necessary to continue her recuperation from this horrific experience. If you can find it in your heart to help, please send your notes of support and/or donations to a special account that has been set up for Michelle Berra at the Centennial Bank of the West in Berthoud, CO (807 Mountain Avenue, Berthoud, CO 80513). Whatever you can do will make a major impact on Michelle and her family. And, if you can send this letter on to others who may be able to support Michelle, that would be an amazing act of kindness on behalf of this young woman in need. In advance, my thanks for your time in reading this story and for your consideration of support for Michelle Berra. Your friendship means the world to me and it will mean the same to Michelle and her family.

Most sincerely, Martha

You can read more about Michelle's story here,  here and here.

You can learn more about Nikko and Tyler here and here.

The Limb Preservation Foundation

The Limb Preservation Foundation was founded in 1987 by Dr. Ross Wilkins with the sole purpose of saving lives and limbs. In his own words: When I started my practice over 20 years ago, 80% of patients with bone and extremity cancer died without their limbs. Today, because of the work that has been accomplished by The Limb Preservation Foundation and others, those statistics are completely reversed. But I have to tell you; even though fewer patients die or lose their limbs, this work doesn't get easier. In fact, it is harder than ever to lose these patients and friends.

The Limb Preservation Foundation has a variety of Programs that serve both patients and the community.

• Patient Assistance-so that all people with extremity issues could have access to the best medical care regardless of their ability to pay
• Emergency Distress Fund-a "last resort" fund to extremity patients with health or human welfare issues
• Medical Transport-to assist patients needing travel assistance to a specialized medical facility
• Limb Cancer Support Network-to provide emotional support and resource information to patients, family members and caregivers.
• Education-to promote awareness and prevention of limb-threatening conditions, generally due to traumatic injury, to both the public and medical professionals
• Scientific Research-to develop new therapies for the treatment of bone cancers and non-healing fractures.

My friend Martha is the executive director of the Limb Preservation Foundation. A few weeks ago she hosted a "free" breakfast for the foundation which promoted many of the ongoing initiatives of the organization. This was an incredible event which lasted only about 1 hour. Many people came to tell their personal stories about how they were benefited by the work of Dr. Ross Wilkins and the Limb Preservation Foundation. There were cancer survivors who did not have to lose limbs; parents of child survivors; spouses who got a few more years with a cherished husband or wife; people who had seen the flyer on how to preserve a limb that was removed by injury and were lucky enough to have it reattached. There was not a dry eye in the room. And then came the ask to support the foundation in their efforts. From a business perspective, this was an incredibly well orchestrated event. More than $400,000 was raised at this 1 hour "free" breakfast which was attended by just a few hundred people. Way to go Martha!

If you would like to support the Limb Preservation Foundation, you can do so here.

The Pursuit of Happyness

I recently saw the trailer for the movie The Pursuit of Happyness starring Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith. The trailer made me cry. My first (sadly cynical) thought was that it was a formulaic holiday movie. But then I learned that the movie is based on the extraordinary life of Chris Gardner who became an incredibly successful business man after living on the street with his son.

He has written a book on his journey.

Marianne Costantinou wrote a terrific article about Chris Gardner for the San Francisco Chronicle. It starts:

Chris Gardner is at the top of his game. Hell, he's at the top of anybody's game. Money. Power. Looks. Houses. Cars. A beautiful woman. A closet stuffed with hundreds of custom-made suits. A Rolodex stuffed with thousands of name-brands, from Michael Jordan to Nelson Mandela, from society glitterati to Wall Street chieftains. And to top it off, he's no blue blood. He's black. And he used to be homeless, right here on the streets of San Francisco.

My favorite quote from the article was this one:

"Gardner doesn't see his as a rags-to-riches story. What he hopes people come away with is that life is full of possibility if you put your heart into it and don't give up. "

You can get the full text here.

Never give up!

Team in Training

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is the world's largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research, education, and patient services. The Society's mission: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

Like many nonprofit organizations, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, must raise money to support its mission. One wildly successful program is Team in Training which has raised more than$660 million from more than 295,000 volunteer participants.  Many people use Team in Training to prepare for their first marathon, half-marathon, triathlon or century bike race. For example, an athlete needs a coach to help them train for an upcoming event and signs up with Team in Training. As the athlete is training for his or her event, he or she is raising money to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Everyone wins: the foundation, patients, families, athletes. I love this business model.

My ex recently did Ironman Hawaii as part of Team in Training. He raised almost $5000 in honor of his friend Mike. His rational for participating in the event was this:

I am training to participate in the Hawaii Ironman on October 21, 2006. While this is usually an individual pursuit, I am competing this year in honor of my friend and co-worker Dr. Mike Shertz, who recently relapsed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. For those of you who have not met Mike, he is a father, husband and emergency physician in his mid 30's. Before becoming a physician, Mike was a Green Beret and has since been an instructor for our local fire and police departments. A few years ago, Mike went to South America for intensive training in tropical medicine and has traveled the world on medical relief missions. The word that comes to mind when trying to describe Mike is 'inspiring.'

I'm completing this race in honor of Mike and all individuals who are battling blood cancers. These people are the real heroes, and need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!

As a follow up, he sent a email summarizing the event and graciously agreed to let me share it here.

Well, it all went down October 21 on the 'big island' of Hawaii. The earthquake a few days before the race definitely made things interesting. When I arrived, there was a lot of debris on the road including some huge boulders that had come by landslide. A few cracks in the pavement but nothing too wide. By race time things had mostly been cleared and the bridges repaired.

Swim (2.4 miles). All of the nervous energy from the six month training build-up is released at 0700 when the cannon fires. Watching it on TV, it looks like total mayhem in the water with people swimming over each other. There was a bit of that with a few face kicks and body blows but after 500 meters everyone fell into their swim rhythm and spread out. At the turnaround boat it was essentially open ocean and there was a lot of swell and chop. If I was alone in it, I would have been freaked out but with 1700 other people, it was pretty cool.

Bike (112 miles) This race is notorious for wicked winds on the bike course. When I was here in 2001, there were 60mph gusts and athletes were blown off their bikes (and couldn't get back on because they couldn't keep the bikes on the ground). This year the winds were much more mellow except for a headwind the final seven mile climb before the halfway turn. The upside was riding 40mph after the turnaround. It is the closest thing I have ever felt to flying.

Run (26.2 miles) If running a marathon sounds insane after swimming and biking for so long, it is. At some point on the run, there is a conversation between your body and mind where the body says, "Yeah, that's pretty much it. I think we should call it a day." This was about mile 11. At mile 15 I ran with an Army Captain who had his foot blown off in Iraq. He had given a speech the night before and closed with this, "If you are out there on the course and feeling sorry for yourself, you are missing the whole point." He asked me if I was racing for someone. I told him about Mike, the Leukemia fundraiser and all of your generosity and support. Thank you.

Finish. 13hr 21min 

Congrats on a great event. Thank you RB for letting me include your story here. My best wishes to Mike and others like him. What an inspiration the Army Captain was during that long run. "If you are out there on the course and feeling sorry for yourself, you are missing the whole point."

Helping Others Dream

I met my friend George about five years ago in the virtual world of Asheron's Call. Fortuitously, it turned out that we were essentially neighbors. We have stayed in touch over the years. George is the principal of Aspen Valley High School, an alternative high school in Colorado Springs. George's school district has received a $2 Million state grant to expand programs for students who have been expelled or are risk of dropping out.

I have written elsewhere about how critical I believe that education and access to quality education is for improving life for everyone, everywhere. Brian Newsome wrote an excellent article on the classes and programs being developed with this grant. The programs look to be a combination of life skills and traditional course work to help the students get back on track with their education. Many of the classes will be offered in the evening or on-line to increase accessibility.

My friend George said the grant is Christmas come early. The district’s alternative students are not bad kids, he said. “The part of the demographic that people don’t often think about are kids who just haven’t figured out how to dream for themselves.”

Thank you George for helping others find their own dreams.

Amy and Annie

I want to tell you about two incredible women: Amy and Annie.

The July 20 issue of my local paper, the Westminster Window, which unfortunately does not post its stories on-line, had a truly inspiring story written by Krystal Fowler about Amy Garcia a local 20 year old young woman. Like many girls her age, Amy is about to head off to college, on scholarship, having just graduated high school with honors. What is completely unusual about Amy is that she accomplished this with Down Syndrome. While it would be easy to think that simply completing high school, in mainstream classes, would be an accomplishment for this young woman, this is not all. She participated on her swim team for all four years. She also held a job at Adventure Golf and took classes in dance and karate. The article has a quote from Amy "I'm out to prove to people who think that Down Syndrome kids can't do anything. I think I prove them wrong. I want to show them what they can do, to prove to these people that these kids can do these things." If only we all had this attitude.

I met Annie Forts several months ago at a breakfast in her honor called the Breakfast of Champions hosted by the Mile High Down Syndrome Association and the Eleanor Roosevelt Institute (see disclosure below). Annie, who also has Down Syndrome, serves as a self-advocate. I have lifted Annie's bio from here: The primary focus of Ann's speeches is to help people understand that there is definitely an "UP" side to life with Down syndrome. She created the concept of "UP" syndrome to redefine, in a positive way, the image of mental disabilities and to focus on the ABILITY portion of the word "disability." Ann has served seven years as a member of the President's Advisory Committee in Washington, D.C., called The President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities. Ann has received numerous regional and national awards for sharing her "UP" syndrome philosophy with her peers, their families, students, teachers, doctors and social workers.

I remember listening to her speech thinking that in part is was your typical leadership or personal development advice. I've unfortunately lost my notes. However, two stories stick in my mind. First, she told a story of how people generally stare at her since she looks different. She related how in one case, she walked up to the person staring at her, introduced herself with a smile, handed over her business card, and sat back down. She does this with everyone; she worked the room and met every single person after her speech. It was pretty incredible. I found myself thinking that as introverted as I am I would find this very difficult. Would I have the gumption to work the same room she just waltzed through? No. The second was a piece of advice. Annie is not a patient person so she realized that she could not wait for or count on others to create opportunities for her. Her advice was don't wait, do it yourself.

What are you waiting for?

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Disclosure: I have been employed by the Eleanor Roosevelt Institute since 1995.