HeartbrokenInNM
Member
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2012
- Messages
- 23
- Reason
- Loved one DX
- Country
- US
- State
- NM
- City
- Albuquerque
Hello wonderful people,
My wife began her journey with bulbar-onset ALS almost exactly 1 year ago. She can no longer speak or eat and breathing is difficult but being the amazing woman she is, she can still do many things for herself and doesn't require 24-hour-a-day attention -- yet.
I have spent many hours reading the painful stories that so many of you share but I am most struck by the caregivers that are essentially overwhelmed. Since I have some time before my wife needs me continuously I desperately want to to do the only other thing I can -- help out some stressed caregiver or a PALS themselves. I have offered my services to the local ALS chapter and have heard nothing. I have looked for other ALS-specific volunteer opportunities in my area and have found nothing. Surely someone in central New Mexico must be in need of some help. Companionship, grocery shopping, cooking, gardening, housework, computer programming, chauffeuring -- ANYTHING! I just want to help someone while I still have time and just can't find an opportunity.
Is there ANYONE out there that needs some help? Needs a break? Needs someone to talk to? Needs someone to lighten the load? Though my heart is permanently broken, I can still muster the caring and compassion to help others dealing with this horrible ailment. Why should it be so hard to find someone to help? If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.
Thank you all and stay strong.
My wife began her journey with bulbar-onset ALS almost exactly 1 year ago. She can no longer speak or eat and breathing is difficult but being the amazing woman she is, she can still do many things for herself and doesn't require 24-hour-a-day attention -- yet.
I have spent many hours reading the painful stories that so many of you share but I am most struck by the caregivers that are essentially overwhelmed. Since I have some time before my wife needs me continuously I desperately want to to do the only other thing I can -- help out some stressed caregiver or a PALS themselves. I have offered my services to the local ALS chapter and have heard nothing. I have looked for other ALS-specific volunteer opportunities in my area and have found nothing. Surely someone in central New Mexico must be in need of some help. Companionship, grocery shopping, cooking, gardening, housework, computer programming, chauffeuring -- ANYTHING! I just want to help someone while I still have time and just can't find an opportunity.
Is there ANYONE out there that needs some help? Needs a break? Needs someone to talk to? Needs someone to lighten the load? Though my heart is permanently broken, I can still muster the caring and compassion to help others dealing with this horrible ailment. Why should it be so hard to find someone to help? If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.
Thank you all and stay strong.