Thank You, Nicholas Accorso, for My New Van
15 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in Bucket List, childhood, death, illness, motherhood, on the road Tags: ALS, autism, caravan, children, death, MD, MDA, Muscular Dystrophy, Nicholas Accorso, ramp, van, Wheelchair
It was kismet that brought me to know Nicholas Accorso.
My husband & I had been looking off & on for a van months before our huge yard sale. It just happened one day he looked on the ESL Bank Swap Sheet:
| Wheelchair accessible 2006 Grand Caravan $16,500. 44k mi. | Start Date: 09/23/2011 End Date: 10/23/2011 |
| 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan. 44,000 miles. This is a lowered, Wheelchair accessible van. It can seat 6 including the Wheelchair passenger. New Air conditioning, new muffler and exhaust pipes. Tires one year old. The Wheelchair ramp is manual and is on the passenger side of the car. The mechanics and body are in good shape.
|
|
The price Mr. Accorso gave was more in our budget range than any other vans we’d come across!
Naturally, my husband was leaving for a week-long business trip, so we asked if they could hold it, till we could come see it. We sent a family friend to check it out and it seemed like a great fit! we still wanted to se it for ourselves.
Ironically, my husband & I always said we were NEVER going to buy a minivan, EVER. We were diehard Honda sedan fans. Ah… youth. Well, life changes in ways you’d never expect.
We met the Accorsos the next weekend. They were friendly and helpful, and really wanted to get rid of this van. Which we were really wanting to buy it! As we got to know them, it turns out they just lost their son to MD.
Nicholas Accorso was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy when he was 10 years old. He appeared on the MDA Telethon when he was about 11 and met Gabe Dalmuth for the first time. He passed away August 18th, 2011, 19 years old. Nicholas was a friendly, curious person who was adventurous and loved baseball. He also loved to travel. He explored the world right up to the end, traveling to South Dakota on his last family trip to use a Federal Parks Pass. Despite his condition, he was very accepting of his illness and did not let it get the best of him. He also had Autism, making his outward, social demeanor all that more special.
Here I am, back from near death myself (my embolism), the MDA Personal Achievement Recipient, and I am receiving the van that took this boy on his travels. All of us had shared some tears.
I know that Nicholas’ family misses him, but I am very grateful. I hope I can make many memories happen with my family in this van.
P.S. Thank you to everyone who helped me to raise money. It has helped us put a dent in the purchase. Now I can go places with my motorized wheelchair – I feel so free!
Like this:
On to something less heavy…
18 Nov 2010 Leave a Comment
in childhood, death, spirituality Tags: Arcade United Methodist Church, baptize, Catholic, church, cry, death, eulogy, First Presbyterian Church of Wheatland, God, High School, Jesus, magik, Spirituality, WASP
…like God & Spirituality!
After all, this blog is about my spiritual journey as well!
I started out as any good WASP, going to Sunday school at the First Presbyterian Church of Wheatland (aka Scottsville Union Presbyterian Church) . My mother’s family went to the church as did my cousins that still lived in the area. When I think about church — THIS is the one I know the most. Between weddings and funerals and great Christmas Eves, I fondly remember this church.
There were really only 2 negative memories. (I did get yelled at for shooting a scene for my Dracula movie in college without permission on the grounds there, but that hardly counts! Oh, yeah… I also looked up the minister’s robe to see what he had on under there.) Once, when I had to be baptized when I was 7 because my Catholic father would not allow my mom to baptize me as a baby. When she was divorced she had it done. I just felt really stupid standing there being baptized with all these babies! The other time was when I was elementary school age, maybe 1st or 2nd grade, I couldn’t understand why we had to read these parts of the service where we say how we’re sorry we’ve sinned and done bad things in unison. I remember thinking, “What have I done? I’m just a kid? I haven’t committed any great sin! Why am I saying this stuff?” I felt I was a pretty good girl for the kind of life I had lived through already.
When my mom remarried we moved. We eventually attended the Arcade United Methodist Church. There were no Presbyterian churches around there. Mom said this was a lot like our other church and that when Grandma went there, it was a Methodist church. Honestly, I really don’t know what the difference is even today. The believed in Jesus and doing the right thing for others. At the time we started, the minister was Native American. He had great stories to tell before the kids went off to Sunday school. By the time I was in adolescence, I REALLY didn’t want to go to church anymore. Mom & I would fight about this. Finally she conceded. (I found out later in life that she wished she’d pushed for it more and that she felt that she somehow failed me.)
My close girlfriends in the neighborhood had tried practicing magik for a short time. We were able to do some minor things, but it freaked us out so much that we didn’t do it anymore!
So then, Senior year in High School comes. Some friends of mine were leaving the school when another classmate crashes into them – right in front of the school. I remember I was staying over at a friend’s house when we heard the news. Someone died. It was a boy I had been friends with for many years and had a HUGE crush on. I was shocked. He promised he would take me to the prom. My friends were all crying and upset. I didn’t cry. I consoled them. Until, of course, after the wake.
I know that my friends were trying to be helpful. I did not want to see his dead body in the casket wearing that red sweater that he looked so handsome in. I wanted to remember him alive. After they dragged me to the casket and I saw him lying there like a big doll and saw the 3 roses my mom gave to him in our names (Chris, Tami & Joy), I just couldn’t take it. We went to the car to head over to the funeral at the Catholic church, and I wept. Deep serious weeping. I cried all the way there and through the entire service. How shameful that such an amazing person – who was a year younger than us all – was dead, taken so quickly. I listened to that service and thought “No. No way is there a God. There is no possible reason that this sweet boy had to die.”
I rejected the priest’s eulogy. And that day, I also rejected the notion of God.
