As some of you know and many of you may not, in March of 2007 my father, Michael Ham, was diagnosed with Huntington's Disease. With the onset of this disease's symptoms in most people's 30-50's, my Dad is just in the beginning stages of the disease and if you didn't know that he had been diagnosed, you would probably never notice anything different about him than anyone else.
With the prospect of my Dad's movement, cognitive and psychiatric symptoms increasing over the next 15-20 years though, it would obviously be an understatement to say that this diagnosis has simply effected every part of our families lives, including Drew and I's courtship and marriage. Through it all though, through the realization of the effects of this disease on our family and the genetic ramifications for myself and my siblings, we have found hope.
Hope can be found in many places. For me, I've found great hope in the fact that my name is "Rachael Hope," and feeling like there was something in my name that would be called forth in a time like this for my family, to hope in and for the best in the face of a fallen world that has effected our family so physically. Obviously, we have all searched for and found our hope in the Lord and his word...even though it is often a daily search. We have found hope in the incredible support group of family and friends that we have been so blessed to have surrounding us, helping us through the challenging times and committed to stay by our side for all the years to come. Finally, we have found hope within the Huntington's community of the Pikes Peak Region, the Huntington's Disease Society for America, and the annual Team Hope Walk for Huntington's Disease.
Last year being our first year of involvement with this organization, we decided to participate as a family, still in the recovery stages of dealing with my Father's diagnosis, not really knowing what to expect. To help get the word out to our few family friends who knew what we were going through, we created a web page through the HDSA organization, with a goal to raise $500.00 to support HD research and sponsor our family at the Walk for Hope in Denver. Just a few short weeks later we were blown away by the response from the people around us who donated $3000.00 to HD research and our whole family was able to be sponsored to walk. What a miracle!
Walk for Hope 2007: Rachael, Michael (Dad), Laura (Mom), Shiloh (Sister), Judy (Grandmother, also diagnosed with HD)
Now, a year later, we are preparing to walk again, and this year we are ready to begin taking steps to raising awareness about this disease an how it has effected our family. We would love to have you check out our website to get more information about our family, this event, and the great work of the HDSA organization. And of course, more than your financial support, we appreciate your prayers and thoughts.
Our hope is that the Lord's purpose will be served through our family and that we will be able to bring this hope to all those around us, especially in the HD community on August 16th.
To him be all the glory,
Drew & Rachael MacPhee
www.firstgiving.com/hamfam2008
