Thanks for ALS Walk coverage

As a lifelong Davis native with ALS, with a family devastated by ALS, I am fortunate to have so many thank-you letters to write. At the The Walk to Defeat ALS on Oct. 6, our team, The Specktaculars, was honored for raising the most donations by a team. I was also awarded for raising the most funds by an individual, but as an individual, I could do nothing if it weren’t for our generous community.

My lists of gratitude are too long to put in one edition of The Enterprise, so I’m breaking them up:

Big thanks to The Davis Enterprise for covering my Oct. 3 speaking presentation at Sacramento City College. I bet you can imagine the kind of response I’ve been getting about The Enterprise coverage, and the credit goes to the writing of Anne Ternus-Bellamy and the photos by Sue Cockrell . I am also so grateful to another longtime Davisite, Joanne Moylan-Aube, the professor of “The Psychology of Death and Dying,” who asked me to come speak about ALS, dying, living fully and the ALS Walk.

I am not exaggerating when I say everywhere I go people (even those I don’t know) tell me what an incredible story they thought it was. And they don’t stop at that; they keep talking about it, and that’s fine with me. Sue’s photos were brilliant. I don’t know how Anne manages to sift through all of my wacky stories and compose both a linear and poetic piece. Wow!

Another Enterprise piece also contributed to raising funds for the walk. Debra DeAngelo’s column — “Would you take a little walk with Cathy and me?” on Sept. 2 also brought in donations. Some folks were so touched they just stopped by Debra’s office at The Winters Express and handed her checks: “Here you go; this is for Cathy.” Thank you, Debra. What a “real” column that was — she nailed it. The disease is cruel, horrific and always fatal. Yet I consider it a gift to me. More about that later.

I am so grateful to The Enterprise for very many things, and the biggest one is how the paper is helping to “keep Davis Davis.” Know what I mean? We are still a cohesive community, with a vibrant downtown, good schools, a world-renowned university, thriving churches and people who care about all aspects of what it means to be a “Davisite.”

Thank you so much. Cheers!

Cathy Speck

Davis