Welcome to my fundraising page!
As many of you know, in 2017 I participated in the Ramah Israel Bike Ride & Hiking Trip with my BFF Orlee. She is very convincing when she wants something and somehow she got me to sign up and join her on this 5 day bike ride through Israel. The trip raised money for Ramah programs for children, teens, and young adults with disabilities, the program that Orlee helps direct. The experience was one I will never forget! It was the most physically demanding/challenging experiences I have ever had. Each day my body hurt/ached but it also felt great to challenge myself and I felt so acomplished when I finished the ride.
Orlee has been on my case to do it again in 2019, I wasn't sold on the idea. It's a big commitment. Fundraising, training and then of course the cost of a plane ticket, room & board etc. Did I really want to do this again? I wasn't so sure.
Some of you know that a month ago today Orlee ended up in the hospital with meningitis. she had an undiagnosed sinus and ear infection, her ear drum ruptured, and the infection spread suddenly to her brain. Thank god Matt came home in the middle of the day and found her and called 911. She was rushed to the hospital and diagnosed within minutes and started on antibiotics right away. Her body was already in sepsis so time was crucial. A couple of days into her treatment, she developed a brain bleed, a rare side effect of meningitis, which led her to lose mobility on her left side.
She woke up not being able to feel her left leg. Later that day she lost feeling in her arm. Hearing this all as relayed by her sisters was terrifying. She had been given a 50/50 chance of responding to treatment. I am now happy to report that after 1 week in ICU and 1 week in the stroke unit Orlee is now in week 3 of rehabilitation at a top notch facility in Westchester, NY and scheduled to come home next week! She has been working her tusch off and relearning how to use her arm and leg again and from all reports she is kicking butt!
Wouldn't you know it, the second Orlee was feeling up to talking/texting/communicating her first message to me was: "sign up for the ride, I need you to do this with me".
So here I am. How could I not sign up? All the physical pain we felt during the ride in 2017, we should only be so lucky to feel that way again! If Orlee was up for this then so was I!
I love how motivated Orlee is even after this whole ordeal. How she is thinking of all the postives and how she can make this a teaching experience for others. I am so proud of all she is doing both personally and professionaly and of the strides she has led Ramah Poconos to take to make sure that all her campers are immersed in their camp experience. She does her best to integrate all campers in every activity to the extent comfortable and feasible. I know that every year under her leadership, the Tikvah program will expand to include a wider population and different needs. She is always the first one to remind us, each one of us is different, and we each add value to the community as participants.
As Orlee recently shared on her FB page, four weeks ago, her participation was her choice. But then she got sick, and had she not been as lucky as she was, she may not have been physically capable of doing the bike ride again. So now she has every intention of riding again in 2019 because she CAN, and I have every intention of riding with her!
Please help me reach my fundraising goal of $3,600. Now, more than ever, I am motivated to raise money to support Ramah's innovative and transformative programming, and their commitment to accessibility and inclusion . I am committed to push myself to train and be a part of the 2019 bike ride. Please consider participating by sponsoring my ride or otherwise contributing to our efforts to strengthen Ramah Tikvah Programs. No donation amount is too small (or too big!!!) - every dollar helps!
Donating through this platform is fast, easy, and totally secure. In addition to donating it would be super helpful if you could also forward this fundraising page on to your family and friends, the more people who see it the more helpful it is for my fundraising efforts!
As Orlee says, LET'S RIDE!