Hail to the Dinosaurs!
I just received the following email message from Jimmy Clark, a 55-year old Dino who is asking the Dino Nation for a very special favor. It's not for him. It's for his daughter -- and I'll let him tell you about it in his very own words:
"I have a young Dino who really needs some support from her fellow Dinos.
Carrie is my daughter and is developmentally delayed. The day after her birth, she was flown to Duke Medical Center and put on a life support machine and was given very little chance of survival. We were told that if she survived she would most likely be a "vegetable." Another doctor told us that she would require a lot of extra care because her muscle tone would never be what it should be.
That was 21 years ago and Carrie has done remarkably well. She has a shunt in her brain that has had to be replaced 13 times, and has had several other surgeries including removing a tumor from her pituitary gland that had caused her to gain over 100 lbs.
Through all of this Carrie has always kept a good attitude and is the type of person that lights up the room she's in because of her sweet personality.
She has recently taken a real desire to strength training. One of the photos I attached is her posing at the 2011 World's Strongest Man competition with winner Brian Shaw and close competitor Mike Jenkins.( She's not confined to a wheelchair but was having a rough weekend at that time due to dizzy spells.) She told me after that event, " Daddy, I want to be strong!"
We started out training Dino style with abbreviated training and she is progressing quite well. The other photo I've attached is her pulling a 103 lb tire sled we made for a distance of about
75 ft.! It is one of her favorite "cardio" exercises.
We took her to the North Carolina Special Olympics this past June and she decided she wants to compete in the powerlifting event in 2013!
However, we've had another set back. We just returned home from Duke Hospital after being there for 6 days, running tests for seizures.
CT scans, x-rays and flow tests have all shown her shunt to be working fine and an MRI confirmed no swelling in her brain. Even a 2 day EEG showed no signs of seizure activity. They think she is having a type of seizure that just keeps her in a state of confusion. She acts kind of like a person after a mild stroke. This just started about a week ago now.
We just haven't got the real Carrie back yet.
I write all this in hopes of some support from our fellow Dinos. I'm just hoping for a "get well" card or letter or note from those who would take the time. Carrie has always responded positively in past situations when she sees someone cares enough to send her a card. Right now she needs all the support and prayers she can get.
Her address is:
Carrie Clark
5720 Lauderdale Rd.
Browns Summit, NC 27214
Please send a card, a letter or a short note. It doesn't have to be long or fancy. Even a postcard or a simple handwritten note would be fine. Carrie isn't really into emails much and besides, we hope to line the walls of her room with visual evidence that there's people out there who care about others. I've never met a true strength apostle who didn't.
Thanks for taking the time to help. It will mean so much to her -- more than I can ever tell you.
Your fellow Dinosaur,
Jimmy Clark"
Okay, Dinos -- we need to take action!
Synchronize your watches, because Operation Carrie begins RIGHT NOW.
I want the Dino Nation to send enough cards, letters and notes to Carrie to line every wall of her room. You can buy a card, sign it and mail it -- or make a card of your own -- or just write a short note on a piece of paper. If you're married, ask your spouse to join you by sending a separate card or note. If you have kids, please ask them to do the same thing. (A hand-written card with a child's drawing or coloring or painting would be extra special.) Mail one card or note from everyone in the family in a big envelope. The idea is to get as many cards as possible to Carrie -- and to do it as fast as possible.
We're having a family dinner tonight, so I'm recruiting Trudi, my stepsons, my daughter in law, and the granddaughters. The cats, too, although I'll write theirs for them. That makes nine cards, so we're off to a good start.
Please share this message with your friends, training partners, co-workers, people at school or church, etc. The cards, notes and letters don't need to come from Dinosaurs, and they don't need to come from weightlifters. They can come from anyone who wants to score a few good karma points by taking five minutes of their time and paying for a postage stamp to help brighten the day of a very strong and very courageous young woman named Carrie Clark.
Also, please share this message on Facebook, on discussion boards and forums, and anywhere and everywhere you can. Let's get the word to as many people as possible. I'm sure there are plenty of folks who would be delighted to help brighten Carrie's day and speed her on the path to recovery.
I'll ask Jimmy to keep us posted on what happens -- but I predict that it's going to start snowing cards and letters in Browns Summit, N.C.
My apologies in advance to the postman -- and a very sincere "THANK YOU!" to everyone who steps forward and takes action to help out.
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
