D'Feet ALS 5K Walk '08

WOW! We have some amazing people in our lives and they were apart of "The Fighting Italians" 3rd annual ALS 5K Walk this year. We were so blessed to have some terrific old friends and family there walking with us and/or helping our team raise money. And we are so grateful for the wonderful new friends who took time out of their weekend to be a part of our "Family".

We have 117 registered on our team with about 85 actual walkers for the day. We raised over $3000- not bad in these economic times. And a special thank you to those who made a special donation to Sergio's family to help with his care.

Before the walk even started, Sergio's mom, Tina, and good friend Donna Tice, were filmed saying a line or two for the National ALS association's marketing film. And because we were so large in number and we looked so good in our team's t-shirts, the team also was filmed walking as to be a part of a news segment for the Channel 4 news that evening.

We Italians never quite know how to do things small, so again this year, we were the largest walking team and were honored in helping to cut the ribbon (along with the team who brought in the most money) to start the walk. Sergio's nephew/ God son, Brandon, was there with scissors in hand to represent our team.

 Sergio's niece/God daughter, Katie, even spent approximately 10 hours decorating cookies to look like the Italian flag to share with those walking on our team.

And the surprises just kept coming for Sergio. One of his best buddies, Dave Cox, flew in from Texas to be with Sergio for the walk. It was wonderful to see him and to see the look on Sergio's face- smiles all around.

(I want to take this time to personally thank my special friends who have physically and financially been there all three years- Sherry Frederick and Robyn Bjorklund. And to Julie Moriarty for just being there even though she is on the other side of the US. Thanks from the bottom of my heart.- Hugs from Sonia)

If you want to check out the pictures, just click on the link below.

2008 ALK Walk pics

A list of those who helped in raising our over $3000 for the team can be found on the click below.

2008 OC ALS 5K Walk List

The entire DeLuca families want to thank each and every one of your who were there for Sergio and those with ALS by walking and donating. You have made a difference in someone's life- for the better.

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Irina joins in helping to care for Sergio

Caring for someone who can't do much for themselves can and is a 24/7 concern. Besides just the daily care in the daylight hours, Sergio needs to be cared for in the middle of the night. At this time, Sergio only gets just a few hours of rest a night before he needs to be turned or his legs to moved, just to name a few things. The family decided to hire outside help to care for Sergio's every need between the hours of 10pm to 6am. Kelly's dad, Bear, found a wonderful Russian gal, Irina, to help the family out with night-time care.

The kids said at first, they weren't sure if Irina could handle Sergio. You see, Sergio is about 170 pounds and Irina is this petite person-  How is this going to work? But it only took a few nights of understanding what Sergio needed and how to make him comfortable to get right into the swing of things.

Sergio said that he knew she was going to be terrific after being with her for just 15 minutes. The whole family agrees. With Irina in the house at night, she tends to Sergio as the rest of the family gets their sleep so that they are good to go in the morning for the new day, caring and being with Sergio.

Irina has cared for an ALS patient before and seems to know what to do and how to do it without much communication on Sergio's part. Keep checking the update for pictures and other information about Irina.

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2008 FUNDRAISER

The cost for caring for someone with ALS can run up towards $200,000 and add in the fact that the person with ALS was the family's major breadwinner and the loss of his income strikes a major blow to the family's finances- well, you can see why help from family friends and sometime, total strangers, is such a blessing.

People have said in the past, "How can we help?" Well, here's your chance...................

On Sunday, November 16, 08, friends Donna Tice and Cathy Rude will be organizing a fundraiser for Sergio and his family.  See the flyer below for more details.

Donna and Cathy have been hard at work gathering donations for raffle prizes as well as coordinating the - of course- spaghetti dinner that will be served to those who attend.

This will be a wonderful evening to gather together and show your support for Sergio and his family. You can assure that it will be a fun night for all.

If you are interested in attending or want to help the family with a donation, please refer to the flyer. We hope to see you there.