Amyloidosis‏

In 2007 my father, Dennis Blake, was diagnosed with a rare blood disease, Amyloidosis. After years of battling the disease, the correct diagnosis was finally given less then a week before he passed. Amyloidosis is a rare blood disease that can affect one or more organs when abnormal deposits of the amyloid protein are produced. It is debilitating and life threatening. The disease meant nothing to my family weeks before we first heard the word, and then it defined the rest of our lives. It is only in the last 25 years that physicians have started to understand the disease. I have been hiking the Appalachian trail for a little more then a month. Hiking 8 to 12 hours a day, I have had plenty of time to think of my father and what kind of differences I could make in his name. I would love to make this epic adventure about more then myself. The amyloidosis foundation's mission is to increase education and awareness in hopes that it will lead to earlier diagnosis and improved treatment. My goal is to raise $1,000 in the name of my father. I have roughly 200 miles left. Just one penny per mile adds up to $20 when I complete the trail of 2,000 miles. If anybody would like to donate a small amount per every mile I complete, then I am confident that I can reach my goal. Here are the directions and the page link for the donations: Check "In memory of" and add my father's name "Dennis Blake"

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Smokey the Bear

After a long break in Fredericksburg it was great to walk in the woods this morning. Instantly I felt better. Our vacation in fred was much longer then planned and it was weird to be off trail for so long. I was beginning to feel lazy. The hike out of Daleville cured all that. Despite the annoying hum of I-81 traffic in the background it was a good hike. My legs felt great. With 5 days of rest, the annoying daily pains in my knees and feet were absent. We made it to "Full Hard Knob Shelter" mid afternoon With a steady rain falling. We were lucky to find the shelter empty. We quickly rolled out our sleeping pads and relaxed. We all fell asleep watching the rain fall outside of the shelter. I woke up with the sun shining and heard noises behind the shelter. I was surprised when a 200 pound black bear poked his head around the corner. My first thought as the black bear locked eyes with me was, "oh shit, this bears going to eat me!" A few seconds passed before he looked away and began to investigate the fire pit in front of the shelter. With the bear less the 20 feet away I began to fumble for my camera and shake Squirrel awake with my other hand. As I began snapping pictures the bear got spooked and ran off. With everyone in the shelter awake now I slowly followed the bears trail behind the shelter. I assumed he had ran off but I was surprised as I peaked around the corner and he was only 30 feet away. He wandered further away as me and squirrel took pictures. He stopped by the spring 30 yards behind the shelter and drank. He continued to wander around the shelter. At one point climbing an oak tree right in front of us. He didn't appear scared of us. He was almost playful. When we got too close he let us know by running towards us aggressively. He stopped 20 yards short of us but we knew picture time was over. It took some shouting and some loud blasts off of Choppers harmonica before "Smokey" ran away. It took two months but I've had my first bear sighting. And as the sun goes down tonight I'm hopeful it's the last one I have for a while!
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