Help Tyler raise money

I lost my mom, Becky Mourey, to ALS on February 14th, 2023 at the age of 59. She was a relentlessly empathetic, maternal, intelligent and driven person. She spent her life caring for others and always put herself second to loved ones in need. 

My mom was a career musician. She went to the University of Hartford in CT, studied Clarinet Performance, and went on to be a clarinet teacher for numerous students. She also lent her talent to various orchestras and ensembles and built a vast network of friends through music. She was a very health-conscious and active person, going on daily runs in the forest near my childhood house with my dad. As a mother, she was extremely attentive and nurturing. She always encouraged me to be myself and went to great lengths to make sure I knew that I was loved, and that she believed in me. 

In the summer of 2020, she was getting ready for a run in the woods with my dad, and noticed that her finger couldn't push down the nozzle on the bottle of bug spray that she was attempting to apply. After several months of doctor's appointments and tests, she was officially diagnosed with ALS in November of 2020. She told me and my sister on Christmas Day, 2020. 

From her diagnosis, all the way to her final breath, she spent every day fiercely advocating for everyone living with ALS, so that they may see improvements in access to quality care and treatments. Over the course of two and a half years, my family watched her gradually lose her ability to walk, use her hands, and eventually move virtually any muscle in her body. Her kind and gentle voice slowly became slurred, weak and eventually disappeared altogether- being replaced with a machine that she used to communicate, by typing with her eyes. Throughout this whole process, my dad tirelessly served as her primary caregiver, and assisted her with every single movement; from scratching every itch, to using the restroom, and constantly adjusting her to make sure she was comfortable. It was a grueling, physically and emotionally exhausting experience for our whole family. 

Despite some well-known awareness campaigns, the general public still doesn't have a great understanding of the brutality of the disease. On several occasions, I had some people tell me "I hope she gets better" upon telling them my mom had ALS, not understanding that it is 100% terminal. The disease is also so unique in regards to the care that patients require, that our flawed healthcare system repeatedly failed to provide comprehensive care, as it does to most people living with this, and other rare diseases. My dad would frequently spend hours on the phone with insurance companies, or healthcare providers with no acknowledgement of how draining/exhausting this bureaucracy is on a caregiver. Despite all of this, my family had an amazing network of friends and family- without whom we wouldn't have been able to complete the journey. 

I am running this race for ALS One, to help other families who are living with this cruel disease. Thanks for reading my family's ALS story, and please consider donating if you can.