An Arkies Musings

Purple Day was started in 2008, by nine-year-old Cassidy Megan of Nova Scotia, Canada. It is an international grassroots effort dedicated to increasing awareness about epilepsy worldwide. On March 26, people from around the globe are asked to wear purple and spread the word about epilepsy. Epilepsy affects over 50 million people worldwide. That's more than multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and Parkinson's disease combined. When I was a boy I suffered from a mild form of epilepsy. I had episodes called petit mals. A petit mal seizure is the term commonly given to a staring spell, most commonly called an "absence seizure." It is a brief (usually less than 15 seconds) disturbance of brain function due to abnormal electrical activity in the brain. I had no idea that other people did not experience them. I could feel them coming on and knew to sit down or hold on to something for a few seconds. MY SCHOOL PHOTO CIRCA 1967 The first time that my Mo...

CITIZEN OF THE WEEK March 10,2010 Polk County Pulse Article written by Michael Reisig Richard Lawry enjoys traveling with his wife, he loves tinkering on old cars and spending time with his son and his daughter, but one of his passions in life is promoting awareness about cancer and raising funds to defeat this dreaded disease in all it's aspects, so that his grandchildren can grow up in a world with less risk of cancer. Lawry was born in Tennessee but he was raised in Colorado, in the Loveland area. "My dad had a used car lot and a body shop," he recalled. "When I graduated from high school in 1973, I went on to take over my dad's business. My parents moved to Polk County in 1977. I got married to my wife, Regina, and we visited my folks in Mena several times. We decided it would be a great place to raise kids so, in 1981, we moved here. My wife had lived in Denver all of her life, so there was a degree of culture shock in the transition, but we settled in a...