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, April 27, 2011

Tuesday we hiked into Va's highlands. We crossed paths with 6 ponies who were grazing in the forest. They were not scared of us and let us approach to within a couple feet. Made camp at the base of Mt. Rogers, Va's highest peak. Early this morning we made the summit of Mt. Rogers in the strongest winds I've ever felt. Forecast is for bad storms tonight so we stopped at the closest shelter for a low milage day.
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3 comments:

  1. CourtneyApril 27, 2011 at 10:37 PM

    Love the blog! Love the pics! Miss u!! Glad ur staying safe, these storms are killing people, I feel better knowing u have shelter :) hope u raise lots and lots of money for such a great cause, dad would be so proud ;) xoxo

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  2. CourtneyApril 27, 2011 at 10:39 PM

    P.s. Tell sabertooth I said congrats on becoming an Uncle;) you'll have to welcome him to uncle-dom :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. anneApril 29, 2011 at 10:19 AM

    hope everyone survived the storms and are doing good. keep those less fortunate in your prayers, lot of lives lost and destruction of devastating proportions. keep the faith, i love u and miss u much.

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