Dave, I am so sorry for your loss and the terrible toll ALS took on your wife. She must have been a wonderful person and a gifted musician, and I know she will be greatly missed by many. You have my deepest sympathy. I am a nurse, so I understand what she went through; and I hope you find peace knowing that she is whole and healthy with Jesus. Carol R. -----Original Message----- From: boyd-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:boyd-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Dave Boyd Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2011 12:56 AM To: Boyd list Subject: [BOYD] request My A.L.S. Story In Memoriam: Cassie D. Boyd 1937 - 2010 One afternoon in late November 2009 I came home to find my wife on her knees on the second of three steps from our garage into the house. A bag of groceries was on the floor. She did not tell me how long she had been there, only that she could not climb the last steps into the house. We attributed the problem to fatigue and age; we were in our mid-seventies. On the second Sunday in January 2010, Cassie was unable to get from the organ console in church to the choir room to warm up the choir. She collapsed into a chair in the room beside the sanctuary to rest. She graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a double major: BFA in Organ and BFA in Music Education. Until that day she had played difficult organ pieces in church using both her foot pedals and multiple manuals on the organ. She never played in church again. In late January she was diagnosed with A.L.S. after an orthopedic work-up showed no mechanical cause for her lower limb weakness. The diagnosis was confirmed at the A.L.S. Center in Charlotte North Carolina in mid-February. By Easter she was unable to support her weight and was confined to an electric wheel chair, and transferred from bed to chair to commode using a Hoyer hydraulic lift. The disease quickly progressed and in a few weeks she had difficulty holding her body upright while in the wheel chair. I used small pillows as wedges to try to keep her comfortable. She was unable to roll over in bed and would wake me several times a night asking me to roll her over to get comfortable. On June 18, 2010, our fiftieth wedding anniversary, she ran her wheel chair to the piano and was able to play only the melody line of "Anniversary Waltz" through to the end. Four days later on June 22 she was at last given rest. That morning her disease had progressed so far that I had to support her hand as she sipped her morning coffee. My employer CVS is conducting a campaign for the ALS Therapy Alliance during this month. If you shop at CVS and are asked OR are not asked to contribute, I ask you to consider this story and please give a dollar for a worthy cause. I have experienced first-hand the horrific debilitation of this awful disease and have shared this story in the hope that you will whole heartedly join the efforts of CVS and the ALS Therapy Alliance. Please, let's find a way to defeat this devastating nervous disorder. Dave Boyd Pharmacist Aka: Pharmasaurus RX Greenville, SC ______________________________________ House of Boyd Society's (HBS) Annual General Meeting (AGM) & Gathering of the Clan 2012 will be held in Woodland,CA, USA in conjunction with the Sacramento Caledonian Club's 136th annual Sacramento Valley Scottish Games & Festival in April 2012 (unofficial date April 28th and 29th -- to be confirmed by the venue). Write AGM@clanboyd.org if you would be interested in helping to plan it. ____________________________________________________ House of Boyd Society's (HBS) Annual General Meeting (AGM) & Gathering of the Clan 2011 was a great success in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA in conjunction with The Highland Games and Celtic Gathering April 16-17, 2011. _______________________________________ Support the Fellowship Activities of the Clan. Join the House of Boyd Society! http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/BOYD/2008-06/1212428046 ______________________________________ House of Boyd Society sends HUGE thank you to all of our volunteers. The Society would not be what it is without you! ______________________________________ Want to contribute an article or query to the Dean Road? Contact Kevin McLachlan, Editor at Editor@clanboyd.org ==================== Visit the House of Boyd Society Website http://www.clanboyd.org ==================== For Officers and other Contacts, see http://www.clanboyd.org/officers.shtml ==================== Most replies should go to the list, not just the author of the post. Make sure to include the list address Boyd@rootsweb.com ==================== Need to contact the Admin? Write me off list at Boyd-admin@rootsweb.com ==================== Can't recall what the beginning of a thread was? Subscribe mid-discussion? Visit the PUBLICLY VIEWABLE archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=boyd ==================== Got an issue that is beyond the purview of this list? Write the Help Desk for assistance http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/ Honor your fellow subscribers -- follow the Golden Rule! **************************** ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BOYD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message