Guest Blog: Rallying The Troops

Today I have a guest post from Operation Jack supporter Roy Naim. Roy asked a few weeks ago if he could submit a guest blog and I have no problem with that. So, today I’m running what he wrote.

Real quick, just in case you’ve never been here, click here to see why I’m running 61 marathons this year to try to raise money and awareness for Train 4 Autism.

Now, here’s what Roy wrote (follow Roy on Twitter at @roynaim).
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Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior.

Autism effects 1 in 150 children in the United States.

Autism has no cure that is known.

What does this all mean? Often I see different medical words and diagnoses and I wonder, does this really mean anything to me? Is it really just another one? Is it just something that we are sympathetic for and say “oh man”?

Often it is “something” we just throw money at and hope we don’t hear about it again. And if we do hear about it again or know someone who has “something”, at times we tend to separate ourselves and try not to know what is really going on. There are MANY who do their part to help those who they know are affected somehow by any illness. Sadly, however, there are those who try to run the other way.

Individually, I decided to change that. I no longer just wanted to just sympathize with these families. I wanted to see what they are going through. I wanted to see how it changes their lives. I wanted to see why people are afraid of getting involved and helping out. I wanted to help out and try to be closer to empathizing with them.

Me and a few close friends started to volunteer at the hospitals and get to know these families. We started becoming a member of the families. The kids knew us. The families invited us into their homes. We laughed. We cried. We took them out for dinner, often drawing funny looks from others. We learned about feeding tubes. We pushed wheelchairs. We gave shots. In a way, we became big brothers. We learned more about these kids and their diseases and at the same time our lives changed.

We saw parents staying up all night to tend to their child. We saw how this affected the other siblings at home and at school. We saw how people tend to give them the “pity look” when they were out with the family when they just wanted to be a normal family.

They don’t want pity. They don’t want sympathy. They just want normal. Something that they may never have and this is why many try to stay away from them. They don’t want to be associated with non-normal families.

However, this was our job. We tried to make everything seem normal. We tried to take these special kids and give them a normal time. We took them on roller coasters, we did arts and crafts activities and we just talked like friends typically do. We took their siblings out and gave them much-needed attention. We tried to make living with the illness normal as possible.

I will never forget this little girl, a daughter of the medical director at the time, as she played with her little doll and stuck a G-Tube in it. Her father did such a great job in not discriminating against those with disabilities that his own kid felt it was normal. The kids and the families don’t want to be discriminated. They want to feel like they’re part of society.

Though many are volunteering across the country to help out in these situation, some want to do something more.

I was once 360lbs. A full circle. And to be honest about it, though I always acted like it fun to be fat (I got to sit in the front of the car every single time), I knew something had to change. This is when a mother of one of these children came over to me and talked to me about participating in a marathon to raise money for the organization that had helped them throughout the years. I started laughing at them. Why don’t I just give you the money? Why run for it? What is the point? Well, long story short, I ran for it.

And then I understood. There is something special when someone marches or runs for a cause. When someone parades through town screaming the “Red coats are coming” it rallies up the troops. It is not just about the money. It is about the cause. The awareness. It is about making people realize there is something out there. It is to show people that Autism is not just another word but rather something very real.

What Sam is doing here, though quite challenging and extraordinary, is something that has been done throughout history. Not the running part but the rallying. Whether it was to rally to fight the red coats, whether it was to blow the vuvuzela (I am suffering from post world cup withdrawal) to rally up the troops in African countries and scare their opponents away … the run is a battle cry. The run is a form of rallying. And this run is to rally for Autism.

Though Tiffany a few weeks ago what is it like to have a child who is autistic, we will never truly understand. So I ask of you, what are you going to do for it? Will you let autism be another word for you? Will you just throw money at it? Or will you stand up and rally for it? Take your time to learn more about it and maybe even volunteer somewhere for it. Doesn’t have to be autism per se, anything will do. It will open you eyes. It will open your heart.

So, let’s look up the word Autism. Is it just a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior OR will it mean something more? Will it be something you are rallying for?

And the next time you see someone running for a cause, it is not just about the fundraising, they are rallying up the troops.