A Season of Giving

Holidays are bittersweet for our family as we honor our two sons, John and Ethan. John and Ethan were one year apart and shared the same birthday—December 5th. They both passed, back to back, in July of 2020 and August of 2021 respectively, due to a familial form of ALS. Our boys were always giving back. Before John passed away, he made sure to set up a local high school scholarship in honor of his brother and himself. High school seniors who are going into a trade or healthcare field are eligible for the scholarship.

Since they passed, I have taken my twenty-plus-year nursing career and my personal ALS experiences to join an amazing team here at Synapticure as a Care Coordinator. I am blessed to be part of such an incredible team. Brian and Sandra have changed the landscape in how we care for our loved ones living with ALS. I wish my boys would have had this option.

In honor of our sons, my husband Al and I have been making and selling fudge to continue funding the scholarship. We were so happy to present the first Andrews Brothers Foundation Scholarship last year to a young man going into civil engineering. We hope to be able to grow the scholarship and offer more than one $500 scholarship in the future.

We have been blessed with overwhelming love, support, and generosity from our family, friends, and community. This is only one way we honor our boys throughout the year, but especially this time of year as they share a birthday. John turned 33 this week, and Ethan turned 32—Irish twins forever. As a momma bear and Care Coordinator I feel honored to be in this fight with such warriors. Thank you and God bless.