Cameron and I were awarded a trip to Washington, DC for the Arthritis Foundation 2012 Advocacy Summit. This is a yearly event where they bring people from all over the US to DC to talk to Congress about arthritis and asking for them to do things to make arthritis a national priority.
It was great! Cameron participated in a project called "Faces of Arthritis" where he wore a shirt that says "I am the face of Arthritis" and had a photo shoot (probably 100 shots or more!). They will use the pictures for a poster and promotional items.
We visited with both of our Senate offices (Rand Paul & Mitch McConnell) and two Representative offices... our district (Ben Chandler) and another district (Hal Rogers). We had a total of 6 people from KY in our Senate meetings and then 3 of us went to both Representative offices. We did not get to meet the members. We talked with their staff instead. This is our group outside of Senator Rand Paul's office with his assistant, Caycee Moffett.
On Tuesday, we rode the Metro to go to the Senate offices. We had about a 4 block walk from the train station to the Senate building. 1/2 there, Cameron was DONE. He cried and begged me to do something. I had already given him tylenol before we left and had nothing I could do. I pushed him and encouraged him on until we got to the steps of the building where I sat him down, took off his shoes and rubbed both feet. This got us through security and about 50 feet down the hallway where he sat down and refused to go any further. This was outside the office of Sen Portman from OH and one of the reps from the AF in Cincinnati that I know was there. She went to the staff in the office and they went to find a wheelchair. By this time, it was very close to our appointment time with Senator McConnell. One of the people from the Summit that was there to talk to Sen Portman piggy-backed Cameron over to the office where our meeting was (and he had just had a knee replacement the end of last year). They brought the wheelchair for him and we were able to finish our meetings. We ended up taking a taxi back to the hotel.
Tuesday night, we got to hear from Miss Michigan Elizabeth Wertenberger and take pictures with her. She was diagnosed at age 13. She let the kids (and adults) wear her crown, take pictures and she signed autographs.
I called a mobility company about getting a wheelchair delivered for him for us to use just for Wednesday (the hotel ones were all being used). It would have cost us $200 for ONE DAY!!!
Wednesday, we took the handicap shuttle instead of the train to the House office building. Once again, he was in pain, but we made it to the office where they had a wheelchair for him. While we were in our Representatives office, he was on the floor reading a resolution about the UK Wildcat's Men's basketball NCAA championship. Of course our meeting paused and we watched from the TV in the office.
We then went to another Rep office which is actually the district where I grew up. We were joined in this meeting by Dr Patience White who is on staff at the Arthritis Foundation in the public health area. She is a pediatric rheumy. Cameron by this time was a pro! He really did a great job talking to the staff member and told him all kinds of facts and statistics that he had been hearing. The PR was very impressed with Cameron's talk and how he handled himself.
We went to see the White House after our meetings were over. We rode the Metro to the closest station and walked over. We took our time and Cameron rested when he needed since we had several hours before our flight home. He was tired and hurting, but pushed through so he could say he had been there. He also got to see the Treasury Department which is close to the White House. When we left, we stopped at a gift shop for his souvenirs and they had the podium and desk where you could take pictures.
Future President????
Coming home Wednesday night, we pre-boarded the plane in DC because Cameron was moving slow and still hurting. When we got on the plane, the attendant was talking to him and asking him what he was doing in DC. Cameron goes into the WHOLE speech about arthritis and how we need more doctors and everything. The attendant said, "I think you need to come here and tell our pilots what you just told me." Cameron got to not only go into the cockpit, but he got to sit in the pilots seat, move the seat around and push some buttons!!! He was THRILLED!!! The pilot was very interested in his story and said he is 61 and starting to feel the aches and pains in his hands and probably should get checked out himself.
On the plane, Cameron was talking to anyone and everyone that would listen to him about his story! I had to tell him to be quiet for a little while!
When we got to Charlotte for our connection, Cameron's cousin Lauren works at the airport. She met us at the door of the plane and walked us up the ramp. Once we were in the gate area, she asked Cameron if he would like to go out on the tarmac and see the plane up close! She took him out and got some pictures on her cell phone. By this time, Cameron was feeling like a VIP and I was worried we wouldn't be able to get his ego on the next plane!
Once again, he talked to anyone he could. There were 2 ladies behind us that live in our town that were very interested in his story and very nice to him. He invited them to the walk.
Yesterday, I let Cam sleep in because it was midnight before we got home. I signed him in at school at 10:15 AM. While he was signing in, his class came by and everyone was "Hi Cameron, glad you're back, how was your trip?" and all that. He felt like a star! When I left, he was telling them about the airplane of course.
If you made it all the way through, God bless you! Thanks.
