APRIL NEWSLETTER 1. Why Don’t We Do It In the Road?
2. I’m So Tired
3. Julia . . .
4. Helter Skelter
5. Long, Long, Long
6. Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey 1. Why Don’t We Do It In the Road? Well, we did. Or more precisely – they did, “they” being Sarah Reinertsen, Ray Viscome, Tommy Koehler, Lauren Peters, Marcos Corti, and Isaac Feliciano. And no, they didn’t do THAT in the road – rather, they conquered it, established dominion over it, transformed it from unbending pavement to a pliable, submissive surface that trembled before their onrushing footsteps. First, Sarah (AK) completed the Boston Marathon in an official time of 6:11:35 (net time 5:54:56), averaging 13:33/mile over the 26.4-mile course. She combated 85-degree temperatures in completing the race, which presumably will prepare her for her next major endeavor, the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon in October. Sarah will be the first female to ever participate in this exquisite form of self-inflicted torture while using a prosthesis (actually, prostheses). Ray, Tommy, Lauren, Marcos, and Isaac stayed local, finishing the ASPIRE 10K in 42:49 (6:54/mile), 45:08 (7:16/mile), 54:11 (8:44/mile), 54:44 (8:49/mile), and 1:31:49 (14:47/mile), respectively. For their efforts, A Step Ahead made a donation to ASPIRE earmarked for funding its youth events. Great job by all of them! Congratulations Sarah, Ray, Tommy, Lauren, Marcos, and Isaac! 2. I’m So Tired These would be the words that David Balsley secretly utters way back in the recesses of his twisted mind. Between his professional commitments, Dave squeezed in both the ASPIRE 10K (running with Lauren Peters) and the Boston Marathon (accompanying Sarah Reinertsen), and then agreed to oversee another ASPIRE Running Clinic at Jericho High School on Sunday, April 25. For those of you who have never had the pleasure of working with Dave, come to the track and gain the benefit of his unsurpassed expertise in working with and training amputees as both a physical therapist and coach over the last 20 years. And lest the name discourage you, please understand that the ASPIRE Running Clinic is not just for runners – walkers are encouraged and invited to attend, as are hoppers, crawlers, and procrastinators. 3. Julia . . . … is not having an exhibition of her works displayed at the National Arts Club. But Erika (Stone) (BK) is, on May 18th – June 2nd. Erika’s work is included in the permanent collections of The Museum of the City of New York, George Eastman House, and The New York Public Library, just to name a few. The exhibition will include 46 of Erika’s works. The National Arts Club, Gregg Galleries, is located at 15 Gramercy Park South, New York, New York. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like more information about Erika’s exhibition. 4. Helter Skelter That’s how things get when you switch health insurance without first speaking to Janet MacQueen or David McGill. With rumors of even greater reductions in prosthetic benefits on the horizon from major insurance companies, keeping us in the loop as your insurance renews/changes is critical in order for us to provide you uninterrupted, quality care. We’re not proud: we implore you; we beg you; nay, we beseech you, to please keep us apprised of all things insurance in your life. 5. Long, Long, Long It seems a long way off, but August 5-7 will be here before you know it. Let the date slip by, and all of a sudden you’ll have missed the Amputee Coalition of America’s Annual Meeting. This year’s event is super-extra-important for you to attend, as the ACA has kicked off an initiative to mandate that insurers provide a minimum level of prosthetic coverage for all amputees. To achieve this goal, grass roots support from all amputees is critical. To learn more about this issue, check out the March/April inMotion, which features brilliant commentary by very important people. And then, after you’ve been properly motivated by those articles, visit www.amputee-coalition.org/annual_meeting_about.html and sign up for the Annual Meeting. 6. Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey That’s why I and my monkey don’t regularly attend support groups – we have nothing to hide. (Yeah, right.) But for normal people, a group context sometimes provides the impetus for self-discovery and disclosure that individual analysis cannot match, due to the absence of inter-personal dynamics. (Sounds pretty impressive, eh? I thought about double-majoring in Psychology and English, but with my extracurricular commitments, my adolescent inability to follow through with things, my . . . ummm . . . sorry, this dredged up all sorts of inner conflict that will now require 3 years of intensive therapy to resolve.) Anyhow, there are excellent support groups out there to meet your needs. Check out the “Upcoming Events” portion of our website for specifics.
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