Jonathan’s ALS fundraiser

Hi, my name is Madalynn Clapp and I am doing a Gofundme for my dad, Jon.

Let me tell you about my dad...

My dad is the best person I know and if you know him you know he lights up a room when he walks in. He has never met a stranger and his smile is as warm as the sun. My parents have a love story for the ages, beginning at the very young age of 16 and welcoming me into their life a couple years later. Life wasn’t easy for our young family, but my dad worked very hard to provide a good life for us. Today, my parents have celebrated 22 years of marriage and raised 3 kids, myself (21), my sister, Hannah (18), and my brother, Greyson (11).

A few months ago, at only 39, my dad got diagnosed with a terminal disease called ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. You all may remember awareness being raised by the ice bucket challenge. For those of you that don’t know, ALS is a deteriorating (degenerative) neuromuscular disease that typically affects people over 55. What that means is his brain sends signals to his muscles telling them to move, contract, and so on but his muscles do not receive the signal correctly so his brain sends the signal over and over slowly killing the neuron in the muscle until it is no longer responsive. Eventually, he will not be able to walk or talk or breathe without assistance. The life span for someone with ALS is approximately 2-3 years and there is no cure for the disease.  

Our goal in starting this GoFundMe is to raise enough money to handicap my parents house as well as getting a handicap vehicle seeing as my dad will have doctors appointments and the such to attend. It will also go to paying my parents house off so that my mom can stop working in order to take care of my dad. Seeing as my sister and I are both in college and my little brother is too young, my dad will need someone to be there with him at all times and for it to be my mom would not only mean he was in great hands, it would mean that they would get more time together. My mom is not only the best wife and mother out there, she is also the best nurse. The whole purpose of doing this is to give my family the quality time we need in these few years we have left with my dad. We are lucky because we are granted something most people aren’t and that is knowledge and time to prepare and cherish the memories we have and will have. We are asking for any help you are willing to give to provide us that extra bit of time to love each other as much as possible and give my dad the best last few years of his life. The time will never be enough, but he deserves nothing less than more time and my family would love the opportunity to give that to him. However, time is in God’s hands and I pray everyday that God gives him more time. Right now, my family is trying to do all we can to make the best of the time we have left and we appreciate anything you can do to help us, whether it be sharing this link or donating or spreading awareness about ALS, anything is greatly appreciated. We thank you very much!