Letter From Dustin

Hey everybody,
I just wanted to check in and share with you a pretty cool experience i had this weekend. Thanks to former coworker of mine named Christi, I got the privilege of meeting a young couple who shared a common bond with me and my family. Christi introduced me to Tim and Jen whom she knows through her church. Tim, 32 years old, shares the same ailment that i have, so this for me marked the first time i interacted with someone who not only has ALS but who is also just a young stud like myself. Jen and Tim spent time with me and my family, shared stories, exchanged treatment ideas and above all just got to know each other. Tim shared with me a motto that he is sort of living by, it was simple, concise, but oh so powerful! He said when you are dealing with this you gotta look at this way, its going to take courage to fight this scary thing but in addition to courage, it also takes the belief that you will beat it. When you put those two together you will get what you want. So to put it simply and in order "Courage, Belief, Life." My family and i were blown away at how anxious Tim and Jen were to come meet us. They even brought me, a complete stranger mind you, an official 2009 World Series game ball. After the visit i felt like my family and i had just made some very close friends. I am grateful that they came over and that we all met. I look forward to keeping in touch with Tim and Jen, staying updated and most important of all, exchanging strategies and ideas of how to continue to make ALS our bitch. Big thanks to Tim and Jen and also a great big thanks to Christi "C-bone" Erbe for making this happen!

- Dustin