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"Stepping Out to Cure Scleroderma" Walk St. Louis

One of the things that makes us happy in life is helping other people.

I cannot tell you how much all of us scleroderma patients that were at the St. Louis walk felt toward all of our support system people who showed up to give us a helping hand. All the people that came out on this very hot October Sunday were nothing less than troopers with a mission.

Fred Bird again made us laugh with his antics and for the first time this year Heather "Hawk on Health" was our Master of Ceremonies and Movin 101.1 was on air with us by remote. Lots of beautiful baskets and several silent auction items that were donated brought us a fun afternoon. Speaking of donations, we have a long list of sponsors that gave us everything from bottled water, pastries, and fruit to coffee pots.

We had whole families represented, we had a young lady walking in memory of her sister who died of Scleroderma, we had groups of people walking because they have a friend with Scleroderma. We are all a very happy group not only because of the people that helped us but because we were able to help each other.

The Jessica Reif Scleroderma walk/run in St. Louis as a whole brought out lots of very happy people that made it a wonderful success.

Mary Blades, Scleroderma Missouri Chapter President

Photos

The walk is over, but you can still donate here.

View Photo Album

"Stepping Out to Cure Scleroderma" Walk, Kansas City Was Great!

Tammy and Ken Meisenheimer along with Cyndi Mackey from the Kansas City area spearheaded this fun-filled morning.

September 10 started with registration and a light breakfast, which consisted of nutritional bars, apples and wonderfully delicious breakfast rolls, along with all kinds of beverages. The walk itself was 2.1 miles, just enough to get your heart pumping but not enough to wear you out for the rest of the day.

There were kid's games—anything from face painting to fishing for prizes.

A hot dog lunch, with dogs that were grilled on a huge grill brought in by a friend of Tammy's, was enjoyed by many. We also had a DJ that played just the right mix of music, and Sheryln Delaney Roberts answered questions on her stem cell transplant.

The raffle consisted of everything from a $10 gift certificate from a pizza place, to a $58 gift basket full of goodies from a stencil store in Kansas City, to a hand crocheted afghan that went to a lady that had wished for it out loud to her daughter, to a pennant signed by Trent Green of the Kansas City Chiefs.

The estimate of walkers was close to 300, not bad for a first-time walk. Monies are still coming in, but as of Sunday it was close to $25,000. With the website being up until November 15, 2006, this figure may go up even higher.

All of this happened through a wet, rainy morning at Mission Park in Kansas City.

Thank you to everyone who walked, donated and participated in our "Stepping Out to Cure Scleroderma" walk.

The walk is over, but you can still donate online here.