The Write Stuff

We’ve been blessed to receive so much support from so many groups of people, ranging from friends to family to community groups. One of the coolest things I’ve experienced is the support of one of those groups - my fellow sportswriters.

Bill Walker, the sports editor at the Greenville Advocate, was one of the first people I told about Grace’s diagnosis. He’s been a good friend and I used our work on the South By South Central podcasts as a stress release. Hopefully we can get those back up and rolling this fall, if not sooner.

Andrew Harner was the former sports editor at the Vandalia Leader-Union before he abandoned Bill and I for the greener pastures of his home state of Ohio. The three of us often helped each other out by sending photos or stats or other information when the other couldn’t be there. His daughter Miranda has had some health issues of her own and his family is often in my prayers. I really appreciate that he was one of the first to reach out when my column on Grace’s diagnosis was published.

There have been others too. Derek Parris of the Breeze Courier in Taylorville did an excellent article on the work Morrisonville High School has done to raise funds and awareness for INAD and our little girl. If you live in Taylorville, you probably saw it on the front page of the paper a while back.

Both Ryan Mahan and Dave Kane of the State Journal-Register have both lent their support to the cause as well. Dave was quick to ask for one of the purple Gracelets and mentioned Grace in one of his “Point After” segments when she was named an honorary Lady Hiltopper. More recently, he has helped spread the word via social media, tweeting out some of my posts on Grace and promoting the “Grace Cup” an all-star soccer game we will be hosting in June.

All of these people have helped inspire me to keep moving forward - with my job, with my life, with my quest to raise awareness for INAD and to find a treatment and cure for this dreaded disease. I think all of them are good at their jobs, but even if they weren’t, they’ve proven that they are good people. And that is way, way more important.

KRH