Friends,
Can I share a huge accomplishment and a proud Mom and Dad moment with you?
Many of you know our daughter Sam had an ultimate frisbee accident over 9 years ago and had a life changing concussion as a result of it. She is still recovering from it and is just now able to drive short distances again. She was enrolled in a Phd program in Leadership at Cardinal Stritch University at the time of the accident.
Sam was doing her thesis on Servant Leadership and how MS-Just Keep Moving got started. She felt it was a story that needed to be told and shared. Some of you were interviewed by Sam several years ago. You helped her more than you know by doing the interviews with her.
With much help, support and encouragement from her cohort and professors at Cardinal Stritch, her husband Jake, many friends, Bonnie and I, and family members; she completed the program.
Sam defended her dissertation last night and did amazing. She is now Dr. Samantha Lee Erschen – Thurner, Ph.D. Bonnie and I couldn’t be more proud. She never gave up despite the many life challenges she had along the way. I’m excited to see what God has planned for her next and how she will use this degree to help others. She needs a little rest first. Thanks to all who have helped her along the way!
Thank you to our students!
Dr Becky Thomas, Dr Sarah Andreucci and the PT Assistant students from Bryant Stratton College had their last day with us for the semester last Wednesday. A huge thank you goes out to them from all of us. Thank You Dr Becky Thomas, Dr Sarah Andreucci and all the students! We’re going to miss you!
Thank you for the pizza Pat!
Dr. Becky Thomas told her friend Pat about what are doing and that it was the students last day for the semester. Pat loved the story and had pizza ordered for all of us to enjoy. Thank you Pat!
We all enjoyed the pizza and our time together.
You never know what this group is up to 😊
Jamie and Bob did a really nice thing for us!
Bonnie and I were honored to go to a Lions Club dinner with Bob and Jamie last week. They allowed me to share our story about MS-Just Keep Moving and what we are doing for and with people with MS. They continue to do great things for society and presented us with a $1,000.00 donation.
From all of us…Thank you Bob, Jamie and the Lion’s Club!
Open House is 1-1/2 weeks away
Our Open House will be Saturday, November 5th from 2:00 – 5:00PM. We will be having a presentation from 3:00 – 4:00. We’ll be sharing and giving thanks. I hope you will join us. Feel free to invite anyone you know that would appreciate what we do and would like to learn more about us.
Sign up sheet for snacks
We have a sign up sheet for snacks at the gym.
If you’re willing to bring a snack to share with our guests at our open house, please sign up on the sign up sheet. If you’re not able to make it in this week but would like to sign up to bring something, please e-mail Pam Tyler @pam@pamsessentials.com and let her know what you’d be willing to bring. Thank you to all who are willing to bring a special snack!
Adam continues to do new things
Adam tried the Precor machine last week and was almost running on it. You continue to inspire all of us Adam! Thanks for helping Adam Larry and Bill!
Linda continues to do more and more!
Linda not only jumps on the trampoline, she’s also riding a bike now. I just love to see how much progress Linda has made since she started here.
I think the biggest improvement she made is in her level of fear about living with MS and being willing to do what she “can” do. She doesn’t seem nearly as afraid of life with MS as she used to. I can’t say she’s enjoying it but I think she’s getting closer to enjoying it.
It helps when Mike gets on a bike and rides with her.
Free stuff / Lost and found
We have some boxes of free stuf and lost and found box right inside the door. Please check them out and help yourself if you can wear any of the clothing or put any of the item to use. Anything left at the end of this week will be donated to a good cause.
COVID is still going around
We’ve had (3) more of our MS-Just Keep Moving family members report to me they tested positive for COVID this past week.
Please keep Ed in your prayers as he’s still in the ICU and having a really having a tough time with the combination of COVID, pnuemonia and MS. That’s a tough combination but we all know how tough Ed is.
We’re all praying for you Ed! We hope to see you back soon.
It sounds like the rest are making progress and doing “ok’ with it. It’s been tough.
To all who have reported their positive testing to me…thank you for letting me know and for being socially responsible and staying away until your symptoms are all cleared up. If you do come down with it, it’s important we let people know that you have been in close contact with so they can watch for symptoms and help stop the spread.
We’ve all been dealing with COVID long enough and are very well educated on it by now. I’m not telling you what to do but I’d highly encourage you to wear a mask again if you haven’t had it recently. It’s been going around our gym the past three weeks. Let’s make good choices and be safe.
Please stay home if you have any symptoms or know you’ve been exposed to someone with the virus. Please don’t come until your symptoms go away. Let’s also give each other some space when talking to one another and continue wiping the machines down before and after you use them with disinfectant. Again…let’s be socially responsible and stay safe!
Water at the gym
Please start bringing your own water bottle to the gym. We have a Culligan filtered water unit where you can fill your water bottle up. It’s located in the lunch room.
Many people have been very generous and donated bottled water for many years. Unfortunatley, much of this gets wasted when someone opens a bottle and doesn’t finish it. Let’s not waste it and use the bottled water only when people forget their own water bottle.
Also, please put recyclables only in the recycling containers and garbage only in the garbage cans. The recycling container is the blue container with the recycling center symbol on it. Thank for your cooperation with this! Let’s be environmentally responsible.
Let’s get together!
We’ll be getting together again from 9:00am – noon on Wednesday and Friday mornings at the gym. I hope you’ll join us!
Wisconsin Metal Parts – Westmound Building
W228N791 Westmound Drive
Waukesha, WI 53186
Prayer Group We’ll be having our prayer group Wednesday @ 11:00am.
I just love the way we share, pray and laugh together while we witness prayers being answered weekly. It’s truly amazing!
Thanks goes to God and to everyone that joins us. Let’s get together to share, listen, talk, give thanks and pray however God leads us.
MS Just Keep Caring – Our Caregivers support group will be the first and third Friday of each month from 10:00 – 10:30am. The next one will be Friday, November 4th. If you’re a caregiver of someone you love with MS, please join us and share your experience of caring for your loved one. This has been very helpful for many. Thanks to all who participate!
Friday Morning Bike Rides
By the looks of the forecast, it will be back down to 35 degrees Friday morning and not warming up very fast. We will not be riding.
We did have a fun ride last Friday though. Even though it was only 37 degrees when we started, we still had 9 people join us. We had six people with MS and three without MS. It was a beautiful fall morning to ride with some die hard friends.
Ginger’s husband Ron even joined us for his first ride of the season. Better late than never. Well done Ron and thanks for joining us! We’re looking forward to riding with you more often. 😊
Our Facebook page is private. That means you’ll need to join if you want access to all our fun and progress. We’re now up to 284 members…awesome! https://www.facebook.com/groups/2639832389489709
Our Facebook page is really getting active. Lots of people are doing more and sharing some of their journey on Facebook. Feel free to join and share your experience and comments. Thank you to all who are sharing!
There were some awesome pictures and videos shared again this past week.
Thai Massage with Ricky Heldt Ricky will not be here this week or next. Chrissy and Rehan may be available to do massages.
Reiki with Linda Linda will be here on Fridays doing Reiki. Many people say Linda’s Reiki work is “magical”. We’re thankful for Linda offering her gifts and talents to us. Feel free to let Linda know you’d like to do Reiki with her. She also has a sign up sheet.
Inspirational Humor with Adam Wollert
We’ll be having our inspirational humor zoom call with Adam again next Tuesday. Adam is a gift to all of us.
Please join us if you can.
Tuesdays @ 1:30PM
Here’s the link to join us…I hope you do!
Join Zoom Meeting with this link
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9431389152?pwd=bWlYbFNaazVnM1M1cWxWMitlODdXUT09
Meeting ID: 943 138 9152
Passcode: 3qP2hu
Phone: 1-312-626-6799
Let’s reach out
I encourage you to share a smile and encouragement with someone. Perhaps you could call someone that you haven’t talked with for a while just to say hi and see how they’re doing. We all could use a little extra love and encouragement.
MS is tough. Let’s have faith, remain calm, be flexible, help each other and learn as much as we can about the challenges of each day as we make good choices.
Let’s keep moving and smiling 😊
In God We Trust…we’re in good hands
Dan
P.S. The sandhill cranes are still hanging around in our yard. I’m not sure how long they’ll be here. We’ll enjoy them while they’re here.
They’re beautiful birds, especially seeing them in the fall colors. Curious critters.
For those who can’t get out and enjoy nature due your challenges with MS…my heart is with you. Hopefully, you can enjoy God’s beauty through the pictures I share. I’m sure it makes you wish you could get out there but realize you can’t. I know, that part is tough…I can relate. You are with me every time I’m out there.