Strongest Dad in the World

I love finding inspiring stories about disabled people and supportive family members. This story I have heard quite a few times but each time I read it, it touches my heart in a different way. Please take time to read it and be inspired by not only the dad but his son as well.

Strongest Dad in the World by Rick Reilly 
(Taken from a Facebook Page)

Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars – all in the same day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a bike. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much – except save his life.

This love story began in Winchester, Mass., 43 years ago, when Rick was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life," Dick says doctors told him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. "Put him in an institution."

But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was anything to help the boy communicate. "No way," Dick says he was told. "There's nothing going on in his brain."

"Tell him a joke," Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a lot was going on in his brain.

Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? "Go Bruins!" And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, "Dad, I want to do that."

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described "porker" who never ran more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he tried. "Then it was me who was handicapped," Dick says. "I was sore for two weeks."

That day changed Rick's life. "Dad," he typed, "when we were running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!"

And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

"No way," Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway. Then they found a way to get into the race officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, "Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?"

How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick tried.

Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii. It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? "No way," he says. Dick does it purely for "the awesome feeling" he gets seeing Rick with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992 – only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time.

"No question about it," Rick types. "My dad is the Father of the Century."

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries was 95% clogged. "If you hadn't been in such great shape," one doctor told him, "you probably would've died 15 years ago."

So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass., always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy. "The thing I'd most like," Rick types, "is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once."

There comes a time in life, when you walk away from all the drama and people who create it. You surround yourself with people who make you laugh, forget the bad, and focus on the good. So, love the people who treat you right. Think good thoughts for the ones who don't. Life is too short to be anything but happy. Falling down is part of LIFE...Getting back up is LIVING...Have a great life

SAVE THE EGG

One of the best lectures this year was when we did the growth game called "egg drop". If any of you have watched the series "Modern Family" then you will know what I am talking about. One of the groups ran the game.  The aim of the game is to protect the egg that you have been given with the supplies also provided. We were also told that we would have to advertise our device once we had finished. So we got into our practical groups and each of us were given some of the supplies that had been provided, for us we got all the tools. We were then told that we must go trade for the other supplies that we need. I took on that job because I thought that I could work my magic. I ended up trading elastic bands and string for

• plastic bag
• newspaper
• woolworths strawberry container
• cardboard
• foam

We came up with THEE GREATEST idea as seen in the picture.

It was then time to do our advert. Haseena came up with a great idea of what to do, here is what we said:

"If you think life is bad...How would you like to be an egg?

You only get laid once, you only get eaten once.

It takes 4min to get hard. Only 2min to get soft.

You share your box with 5 other guys. 

But worst of all...

The only chick that ever sat on your face was your mother!!!

So invest in the super egg system that will keep your eggs safe"

We had to stop often during our advert for the class to laugh, it was hilarious even for us who were doing it. I definitely think we won the advert competition. 

DNC, Chatsworth, NBL and Ekuhlengeni

We then went outside to test if our eggs would survive the "drop". One member of each team stood at the top and we dropped them one by one. Surprisingly all our eggs survived the long drop because us being OTs have MAD SKILLS.

Our egg survived!!!

It was such a fun activity and it really showed us how strong the bond is that we have made with our prac group. We all worked so well together. This activity could be really fun to do with team building or in many other circumstances. It gets you to plan, work together, trade, be creative etc. 

This lecture happened before our project presentations and in the middle of "hell week" so it was great to let loose and have some fun with the class. Won't be surprised if we get a report about all the noise and chaos we made. 

Chatsworth egg :(

Micah 6- Justice through education

"He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you?
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?"

Micah 6:8

The girls at the opening of the new library with my mom who helps with extra lessons and making lunches.

This is a non-profit organisation that was started by Gabrielle Wills. I have been involved with the girls when they have come to our house on a Saturday and we help them with their projects and if they are having any problems at school. My relationships with these girls have grown and I love seeing the growth in their lives and what a difference this intervention has made in their lives. Two of the girls that used to attend the Sparks Secondary School with the others are now going to Inanda Seminary because of the intervention, this has made their future ALOT brighter. Please read on about Micah6 and I urge you to get involved because it will definitely change a life.

This information has been taken from: micahsix.blogspot.com

The Vision

It is an injustice that being poor in South African generally means getting a sub-standard education. It is an injustice that this will affect a child's life forever as poor education restricts their life trajectory and access to opportunities. For this reason Micah6 was initiated in September 2008 and officially registered as a Non-Profit Organisation in June 2010. We are about justice through education. 

The current vision of Micah6 is to provide vulnerable girls with the opportunity to maximise their potential and in turn help others to do the same. The key mission to achieve this is investing into the lives of girls in South Africa, by 

1. Connecting sponsors to an individual life to provide the opportunity to attend a better school. 
2. Intervening weekly in the life of each child through one on one conversations at our Tuesday English conversation lessons.  
3. Acting as an advocate for schooling improvements at Sparks Estate Secondary to which most of our sponsored learners attend. 

Critical to our existence is finding sponsors to provide the means for vulnerable girls to attend high school or tertiary institutions. We believe that the key to achieving this goal is to focus our resources and time into fewer candidates rather than many. We aim to spread our energy and resources thickly, and create transformative change in the lives of our candidates: a change that will resonate for years to come. At Micah6 we are committed to facilitating each girl’s education to the finish; guiding their development over the long term and encouraging them in turn, to impact and change their communities. 

The story behind Micah6

In 2006, a group of ten girls, aged ten to eleven, were identified by teachers at Cato Crest Primary School as needing additional social care. The girls were displaying abnormal behavioral patterns, the majority of which resulting from the death a parent due to HIV/AIDS. These ten girls were given intensive psychosocial grief counseling bySt Thomas Anglican Church and social work studnts from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. At the end of the counseling course, I, together with a colleague Sarah Pudifin, were approached by St Thomas’ to give the girls some basic music skills. The purpose of the music lessons was two-fold. First, it allowed the group to remain intact facilitating further emotional support. Second, it exposed the group to new cultural experiences. The fledgling recorder ensemble proved a huge success, and the music lessons soon transformed into a varied arts and crafts program that was extended not only to the original members, but also their friends…and then their friends.

Cato Crest Primary - Extra-mural activities... the beginning

A Pivotal point 

Towards the end of 2008, some of the girls in the extra-mural program had reached the end of their primary education, and it became apparent that without additional support, their prospects for a sound high school education were bleak. It was later brought to our attention, that by the third quarter of the school year, parents and guardians of the girls had not even registered them to attend a high school! Our concern was growing. The poor standard of education offered in the informal settlement coupled with the lack of mentorship at home, meant that for sustainable change, outside intervention was required. The girls themselves were also starting to become concerned about attending the future education and had voiced, that if it were possible to attend a better school, they would leap at the opportunity! 

Taking Action 

The situation was troubling, but not hopeless. We were presented with an opportunity to continue our walk with the girls through their high school education -provided that we took action. At the time, neither Micah6 existed, nor were any funds available to support high school tuition. St. Thomas church was unable to underwrite the school fees and the sum required was more than what we as a small group could afford. After some research, I discovered that Sparks Estate Secondary School, although under resourced, had a dedicated staff and headmistress who knew how achieve a lot, with very little. The annual fee for attending the school was R850 for the school year of 2009. However, this was more than what we, or the families of the girls’ could afford. Undeterred, we began canvassing friends and family as well as the people, who through their involvement with the programme, had taken in interest the lives of the girls. A few people agreed to become sponsors, and on the first day of school 2009, seven girls entered grade eight at Sparks Estate Secondary School. As the girls stood nervously in their new oversized uniforms, we knew that we could significantly change the lives of these young women. This was the dawn of Micah6.

First day at high school

Micah6 Today 

Micah6 was registered on 8 June 2010 in terms of the Non-Profit Organisation Act. For the period before this Micah6 was not a legal entity and with no membership board. Micah6 functioned in partnership with St. Thomas Church who received funding on our behalf and volunteers spearheaded the programme. Although the partnership with St. Thomas Church was beneficial and much appreciated in the early stages, it was felt that we needed to obtain an organizational vehicle such as NPO status for increased financial accountability and independence as well as future growth potential. As a result a board of three members was created in fulfillment of the requirements of an NPO, a constitution was drawn up and we applied for NPO status. Currently the membership board consists of:

Jennifer Pudifin – Chairman 

Caroline Goodier – Secretary 

Gabrielle Wills – Treasurer 

In addition to these three members, a faithful group of volunteers serve the organization. Coral Wills is a high capacity volunteer who sees to the well-being of the girls each Tuesday afternoon while Gabrielle Wills and Caroline Goodier provide extra English lessons. Bradford Wills and Alan Wills are involved on a monthly basis conducting computer lessons and offering strategic advice. Support is also offered from current financial sponsors including both individuals and firms. 

We are most grateful to the following who have committed to Micah6’s financial sustainability: Alan Wills and Associates; Coastland Sales; Gabrielle and Bradford Wills; Clare van der Stoep; Jennifer Pudifin Beverly de Kok; Coral Wills; Belinda Croxon; Charmian Silcocks and other members of small group at St. Thomas Church; Sarah Pudifin; Gavin Surgey; Alexandra and Hylton Mowday; Rotary Ethekwini Educational Trust and The Andrew Mentis Nomads Foundation. 

Currently there are five girls who are sponsored to attend Sparks Estate Secondary and a further two girls at Inanda Seminary. The programme also provides extra lessons to a further three girls who are not directly sponsored.