Today we wanted to highlight some of our amazing volunteers for day 25 of ALS Awareness Month. Marcie & Melanie Pruden and Nicole Tymchak coordinated the first ever Drayton Valley WALK on June 16 and it raised over $20,000! Thank you ladies for #MakingItPossible for our clients and everyone who has been affected with ALS.
"We were introduced to the ALS Society of Alberta in January of 2015 when our mom, Audrey Pruden, was first diagnosed with ALS. We had no idea what ALS was or what to expect with it, let alone that there was a Society and what it did for people. We soon learned firsthand what the support of the ALS Society was all about! At Mom’s second appointment we were given a transfer wheelchair, through the ALS Society’s Equipment Loan Program, just in case we went somewhere with a lot of walking and Mom got tired. By our third appointment, just 3 short months later, we were dependent on that chair for any length of walking.
Once everyday tasks started to become a struggle for Mom, and a struggle for us trying to help her, the Society stepped in and supplied us with whatever we needed to make it possible for Mom to comfortably continue to do what she loved. At the drop of a hat, the Society had whatever equipment we needed on our door step and made sure Mom was happy and comfortable with it. Without the ALS Society we know that we would not have been able to have Mom at home for nearly as long as we did, which was where she wanted to be for as long as possible. We honestly don’t know how we would have made it possible for Mom to have all of the amazing days that she did without the physical and emotional support from the ALS Society.
We first heard about The WALKs for ALS in the summer of 2015 and talked about attending one with Mom. We fortunately were busy living as much life as we could live with her that summer and missed the opportunity.
We lost our mom in April 2016. Walking in her honour, we attended the Edmonton WALK for ALS in 2017. It was then that we decided we needed to bring this WALK to our hometown of Drayton Valley to help spread awareness for the horrible disease and build a support system in our community for anyone living with and affected by ALS.
The three of us (Melanie and Marcie Pruden and Nicole Tymchak, best friend of Marcie’s for over 20 years and known as the third daughter) attended a WALK training session in October 2017, and then we were on our way.
Being only 29 – 31 years old, the three of us have taken on something that most people our age would not. However, we are doing this to honour Audrey’s legacy and to help raise funds for the ALS Society and ALS research so that both can continue doing the amazing things they do. This is how we can give back to the ALS Society of Alberta to express our eternal gratitude to them.
We held our first annual WALK in Drayton Valley on June 16, 2018 and we look forward to organizing the event for many years to come."