Calling All Angels

Call to Action – Angels Unite!

Thanks to your generosity last year, my brother, Don Taylor, was able to begin intensive, holistic IV treatments to combat his ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). The treatments were very successful in slowing and stalling this deadly disease. Don, his wife Hing, mother Ruth, and his whole family join me in sincere appreciation of your help to our family.

Thanks to the overwhelming generosity of all our many Angels, Don was able to continue this valuable therapy throughout the past year. Over time he dropped from doing the IV treatments every day to only one treatment a week. At that time we again learned how important these treatments were when he began to have trouble breathing, and he lost the ability to make any verbal sounds. So Don increased the treatments to two a week and he stabilized again.

But as you know the treatments are expensive and not covered by Don’s insurance. So we are once again

Calling All Angels (and their friends)!

We need another 100 Angels to contribute $100 each to be able to continue Don’s vital treatments. And we need it soon, since as we learned losing treatments causes Don to lose vitality that can not necessarily be regained.

Don says, “I'm doing great. My IV treatments are definitely slowing my disease down. My pulmonary doctor is quite impressed with my ability to breathe compared to other people with ALS. Since I have been here for one year, he can substantiate my progress. My holistic doctor is very thorough. I go to my IV treatments two times a week, and that seems to be the right combination for me. When I dropped back to just one time my family noticed things about me like I was coughing more and exhausted by the end of the day.”

Please be an Angel and help Don again. As before, you can donate directly through PayPal to Don or write a check to me Kate Taylor and mail it to: Don Taylor, 305 W Magnolia #356, Fort Collins CO 80521. Of course, we will gratefully accept all prayers and donations of any amount towards this effort.

We have revamped Don’s website at www.HolisticLifeChoices.com/DonTaylor with more photos and more options. You can link from there to donate directly to Don’s PayPal account. In addition, when you use the SHOP 4 DON link to do your online shopping from any of over 800 stores, restaurants, theatres, and other merchants including Best Buy, Sears and Walmart, Don receives a commission! You get special discounts, find the best online price while Don earns money for his treatments. Please check it out.

Again, thank you for all you have already contributed to our cause.

Kate Taylor (Don’s sister)

What's New With Me?

Here is a little story about my adventures. It's fantastic that I'm back in my college town. I feel very comfortable here because I know about the people and the Ft. Collins area. Most of all being with Mom, Kate and Bonnie is the best thing ever. The other day, I went to the Colorado State campus and sat near the Lagoon. It was a beautiful day and I realized that I like being around students because they give me energy. It's quite rejuvenating actually. Ft. Collins has been listed as a great place to live. Another feature about this town is the bikers have the right of way on all roads. Tons of bike lanes to accommodate the students. Certainly this town has grown since I went to school almost 30 years ago but it still has the small town charm in certain areas.

I do miss Hing and the kids but they came to see me once last year and twice this year. But not always together at a time. In October they came to see me during the kids Fall Break from school. Chris and Nicole stayed up at Kate and Ken's house and Nicole always wishes for snow and she got her wish. Hing stayed here with me and we really had some time to talk. The phone is nice and even video chatting but face to face is certainly better. Nicole made me a video of the visit. I will try and get her video uploaded.

Chris came here to ski in March during his spring break. This was his third year skiing in Colorado and my first time being here to cheer him on. He always goes with a family that we met through boy scouting. As it turns out their son and Chris were born on the same day! Chris received my ski "Gene" because he is an expert skier but I wish that I could ski with him. The father, Brian and I are both Eagle Scouts so we get along great. Brian took a lot of pictures and video. On their return trip from five days of skiing, the whole gang stopped by Mom's place and we watched movies about them skiing and looked at pictures. They came here during one of our warmer periods and Chris got a really good sun tan on his face but not on his eyes where he wore his ski gogles. When Nicole saw him she said that he looked like a raccoon. She was right! The big news about Chris is that he had a girlfriend. I said had because he only dated her for about two months. She is a senior in high school and he is a junior. Hing and I don't know why they broke up, but the fact that she is going to college in the fall might have something to do with it.

For my birthday in April , Hing and Nicole showed up to my surprise and stayed the weekend with all of us. It was better than when Hing surprised me on my 40 th birthday. A good friend of my family hosted a birthday drumming celebration for me. You can see it in the video below. Drum celebrations are a great way to get people together and also have known to heal. The host, Suzanne had a 3 foot community drum that was awesome! Hing took the video so you won't see her but she get a good shot of everyone attending.



As you can see from the video we had big snow storm. Nicole always asked for snow when she comes to Colorado. So she got her wish. She ran outside in my backyard and played so we could see her through my bedroom window. A funny kid and I treasure her antics. Unfortunately Hing lost her job because of the economy, but I noticed when she came to visit, she was relaxed and really enjoyed herself this time. It was good to see a renewed spirit in her again.

Here are a few pictures from this year.


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Don Taylor's Rules of Engagement for Women

(Or advice from me on how to pick a man - a little bit of humor)

Below are two categories – The Keepers and The Throw Them Back
Good luck fishing!

The Keepers

• o He should let you say whatever you want to say without him interrupting you.
• o On your first date, he should always make you feel comfortable but especially by being a gentleman and not attempt to kiss you at the end of the date.
• o He should treasure his relationship with his family.
• o Watch him closely as he walks passed a mirror. He shouldn’t be obsessed with his body.
• o His eyes should be on you. Not wandering around the place looking for his next victim.
• o He should treat you absolutely perfect on your first date. Plus tell you where you’re going so you can dress appropriately.
  
  Throw Them Back
  
• o If he has to clean his car of empty junk food wrappers or containers before he takes you on a date?
• o If he gives you a gift with a power cord attached?
• o If you visit his apartment/home and you have trouble seeing what the color of the carpet because of all of his "stuff" on it.
• o After the first date, does he call you more than once per day? He might be a stalker.
• o Does he have body odor? Chain Smoker? Alcoholic? Felon? Addiction for Gambling?

How to Disengage

• o First, be totally honest. Don’t talk around the reason why. Be blunt as possible. Don’t be mean.
• o If you truly want him out of your life, don’t say like “I need my space right now”. That’s an open statement that tells him there’s still a chance for him to stalk you. Danger, Danger!
  
  

Why I like Sponge Bob Square Pants

Dear Chris and Nicole,

Sometimes I watch The Sponge Bob cartoon here in Colorado just to remind me of the fun times we had watching it. My caregivers knew that I liked the cartoon. So one of my aids named Liz made me a blanket with Sponge Bob and Patrick as the theme. The blanket was sewn with square patches of the two of them doing funny things.

All my aids were wondering why I liked Sponge Bob so much. So besides laughing out loud when watching it, I wrote a story about it.

Below is my story and above is picture of the blanket with Liz, Barb and me. Maybe you remember them when you came here. Liz was being treated for cancer and I have good news, she is now cancer free.

Why I like Sponge Bob

The first time I saw the previews for Sponge Bob Square Pants I thought that TV cartoons reached an all time low point in cartoon history. I think Bugs Bunny and the Road Runner cartoons were the best. After all I was just getting over my hatred for Barney the dinosaur. I could not take hearing him sing that song after hearing it over and over, first with Chris and then Nicole.

Then when Chris and Nicole watched Sponge Bob and laughed out loud, I could not help but to watch it. It didn’t take long until I was cracking up too. Sometimes a little mindless humor is the ticket to unwinding the mind.

The start of the cartoon introduces you to Sponge Bob with a song. The song is creepy because of the lips of the pirate, but after a while I found myself singing it.

But the main reason why I like Sponge Bob is because when Chris and Nicole watched it they memorized one of the episodes and when we were driving in the car they would act out the entire cartoon and Hing and I were laughing so hard our sides would ache. Chris would be Sponge Bob and Nicole would be Squidward. They would do the cartoon in the car or at the dinner table. The episode was called "Pretty Patty's". Because business was slow and Mr. Krabs wanted more money. So Sponge Bob came up with the idea to color the Patty's. It never got old. Now that they’re teenagers they still watch it and announce when new episodes are coming.

Thank you Liz for making the Sponge Bob Square Pants blanket. I love and will always treasure it.

100 Angels Thank You

Happy Holidays Everyone!

This posting is for all the people who donated their time or money (or just prayers) to support my new treatment process.

It was written by my Mom.

Thank you for being one of our Angels! Our whole family is grateful for the support of so many amazing and caring friends and family.
Thanks to your generosity, Don was able to start the intensive IV treatments designed to battle the ALS late in September, and within three weeks they were shown to be successful in increasing his stamina and improving his ability to swallow. The debilitating coughing was greatly reduced to a more manageable occasional light cough. His caregivers noticed that his neck and back got stronger, and the family noticed he was speaking better.



Don says, "Thank you so much for your generosity. It really means a lot to me. As many of you might know I have moved to Colorado (without my family) to get special treatment in an attempt to slow this monster inside of me. So far it is working. The most important improvement to me, since most PALS die of respiratory failure, is that my lungs gained strength after the first few treatments. That led to less coughing, improved nose blowing and best of all my breathing. And my immune system is stronger than ever thanks to my diet and IV treatments. My spirits are at an all time high. Plus when my kids had fall break, Hing and the kids came to visit. Best of all, Hing and I had time to talk and that’s exactly what we needed. My caregivers here in Colorado are wonderful. Of course, my Colorado family is taking good care of me too. Your generosity and compassion for me and my family brings tears to my eyes. Thank you so much for your love and support."



Because the treatments are helping, Don has continued the IVs over decreasing intervals. He is currently doing them only twice a week and is still stable. But Don wants more than "stable," he wants more improvement, so his doctor has started some additional innovative 'frequency' treatments to help his brain connect with his muscles and mineral lithium to help his neurons. Plus Don gets very high quality, organic foods instead of the cans of corn syrup-based food usually prescribed for his situation.



Since the only therapies for ALS covered by insurance seem to be of the "make-him-comfortable" variety, none of these new treatments are covered by insurance. So as long as these treatments are helping Don, we are continuing the fundraising to cover them. Meanwhile we are posting photos and updates on Don at his fundraising website www.HolisticLifeChoices.com/DonTaylor.


My heartfelt thanks to you for helping us during this time when hope is most critical.
Our Love to you,

Don’s mother (and family)
970-221-3687


PS- You can reach Don by snail mail at
Don Taylor c/o Ruth Taylor, 305 West Magnolia #356, Fort Collins, CO 80521.








Don’s ALS Walk Team in Fort Collins, Colorado – September 2008



Don’s Team (even without his presence) in Memphis, Tennessee – October 2008

Dr. Billica's Treatment Protocol

I'm both happy and sad to report that I have decided to stay in Colorado indefinitely. There are a many reasons why Hing and I made this decision. Certainly there are good and bad things about staying here. All were considered. Probably some of the important reasons is that I feel at peace here. For many years I would tell people that if I worked for FedEx and lived in Colorado, I would be in Heaven. For me it's the simple things like the majestic mountains , the climate, I would rather be cold than burning up (I cannot breathe if it is too hot), the sunsets, the snow and of course, I'm getting to know my Colorado family. That's sometimes hard to do when you are separated by miles and miles.

Oh one more thing , my sister, Kate is deep into alternative healing and knows a ton of healers that live here. Kate found Dr. Billica who has been successful with healing all kinds of diseases. Below is my personal account of taking advantage of his method of healing.

What truly sucks is being without Hing, Chris, Nicole, my TN family and my friends. But Hing and the kids came to visit last weekend since the kids had a little school break. More on their visit later.

A lot of people have been asking me "How are my treatments doing? ". So I would like to share with you this memo to Dr. Billica at the end of my third week of treatment.

Dr. Billica Treatment Protocol

When I first went to Dr. Billica the goal was to understand exactly what he had to offer, after that we agreed to use three of his treatments. The first is a very unique blend of nutrients that go directly into my blood system. The purpose of them is detox my body of waste and fill my system with antioxidants, anti fungal and nutrients to strengthen my cell membranes so they can be strong against toxic waste. Dr. Billica strongly believes that ALS could be "caught" by environmental causes. Another benefit to the blood nutrients is to make my liver stronger since it’s doing the heavy lifting to get rid of the toxins.

The second treatment is my nutrition. As it turned out the liquid food that my doctor in Tennessee gave me to keep me sustained, wasn’t really healthy for me. The bad part of my old liquid diet was all the sugar and corn syrup. So Dr. Billica’s staff examined my diet and came up with a totally organic diet. The new diet is filled with cooked vegetables and high in protein. The funny thing is one of the recipes is animal bone broth, so my sister, Kate contacted a local big game butcher and he agreed to give us all the bones that we want. Plus we have friends that volunteered to make the broth for my Mom. The good news is my strength improved almost immediately after I started my new diet. A most important thing came out of the examination of my diet and my medications. Dr. Billica found another doctor had prescribed an antacid to keep my stomach under control. The funny thing that Dr. Billica said was "Why take a medicine that prevents digestion? ". He said that is crazy. We're trying to promote digestion.

The third treatment is a little bit out there (not sure how it works) this instrument sends an electrical frequency to my throat muscles to return my cells back to the correct frequency. Apparently all of our cells vibrate at a certain frequency. This treatment definitely improved my ability to swallow more productively.

My goals at the start of my treatments were to:

• Give me strength
  


• Improve my swallowing



• Increase my stamina

I’m happy to report that I have met my goals. I surprised everyone when I wanted to go out again after spending the previous day on an all day adventure. Just like the Energizer Bunny. I have a hunch that the sugar highs and lows from my previous diet were robbing me of strength.

One surprising thing that I wasn’t expecting is my lung strength has really improved. I’m looking forward to continuing to improve. My spirits are at an all time high.

Thanks to everyone that helped me get to this point with your prayers and donations.

You all are my Angels! !

Don in Colorado

My New Treatment Program

Dear Friends and Family,

Most of you know that my son Donald has been battling ALS (Lou Gerhig’s disease) for almost 4 years. Even though he now can move very little, can no longer speak, and gets his food through a stomach tube, he is still as adventurous and upbeat as ever. Recently, we decided to give Don’s dear wife, Hing, and his kids, a much needed rest from Don’s “high-maintenance” caregiving, and to grant Don’s wish to vacation in Colorado.

Late last June, while my daughter Kate and I drove Don’s equipment out in his wheelchair accessible van, my son-in-law Ken flew Don out from Memphis in a private plane. Thanks to the help of lots of family and friends, Don is settled in at my handicapped-accessible home in Fort Collins. The plan was for him to stay for July, but when we realized how long it was taking to complete all his trip wishes (like see Longs Peak again, drive up the Poudre, visit Ken and Kate’s mountain home), we extended that to staying indefinitely.

We have been using our many holistic health resources to get Don all kinds of holistic healing sessions, plus body work, acupuncture, and mind/emotion/spirit support. Furthermore, Don is about to begin an innovative therapy with a local MD, Dr Roger Billica. This intensive, nutritional program has successfully helped ALS patients in 70% of its cases around the country. Don will require three IVs a day for three weeks (and the IVs are as costly as chemo treatments). Unfortunately, this new protocol is not covered by Don’s insurance. Since the family is financially “tapped out” after getting Don here for his vacation, we need help to make these treatments happen. The good news is, we will know within three weeks if Don is responding favorably to this treatment.

We need 100 Angels who will donate $100 (or more) to reach the $10,000 needed.
Of course, we will gratefully accept all prayers and donations of any amount towards this effort.

If you can be one of these Angels, please donate to Don’s PayPal account at www.HolisticLifeChoices.com/DonTaylor or write a check to Kate Taylor and mail it to
Don Taylor c/o Ruth Taylor
305 West Magnolia PMB356
Fort Collins, CO 80521.

Sincerely,

Ruth Taylor
970-221-3687