December 2001

December 2006

In 2000 my wife, Marcy, (3/21/63,) was winning 5 and 10K races. She was room mother and Brownie troop leader for our daughter (then 6) and soccer mom for our son (then 11.) In August of 2000, she was diagnosed with ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. This is a motor neuron disease which doctors say is always fatal. 50% of patients die within 3 years of diagnosis. Marcy has chosen life.

October of 2000 Marcy resigned her executive director position at Happy Tales Humane - the no kill animal shelter she started in Franklin, TN. She stopped walking Thanksgiving of 2001, had to get a feeding tube to eat September of 2002, and since March of 2003 has been quadriplegic and on a ventilator in our living room at home. As Marcy's caregiving took more and more of my time, I had to leave the advertising agency I helped start. Since March of 2003, caring for Marcy has been my 24/7/365 job.

Aside from a little money from Social Security, our income is almost entirely gift income. Blessedly, we have been able to keep our home.

This video was shot and edited in September of 2007 for our video application to be on ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition to try to make the house wheelchair friendly.

Though we haven't heard from producers yet, the video gives you a 5 minute history on us and a good picture of what it looks like for us at home.

Marcy loves to get out of the house and she feels up to doing so about once a week.

This video, also shot and edited for ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, gives you an idea of what it takes to get Marcy ready for each day and ready to go out.

The video condenses the 3 hour process to a little over 5 minutes.