Grand Rapids designer, businessman Bob Israels: Globetrotting homebody

Posted by Terri Finch Hamilton | The Grand Rapids Press June 15, 2008 09:56AM

Press Photo/Hoyt E. Carrier IISurrounded by rich wood and several pieces of his art collection, Bob Israels loves the space in his office on the sixth floor of the former Widdicomb Furniture factory. Israels is a father of three, but his fathering stretches to his family of 350 employees and to the community around him that he's been helping, bit by bit, for years. "I've been given the gift of life by God," Israels says. "Because of that, I have a huge responsibility."

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Bob Israels loves to talk about when he was a kid.

"When I was 5, I'd get up at 4 a.m. and go screaming around the block in my wagon," he says. "I'd wake the whole neighborhood up, making siren sounds. I didn't mean to wake them up. I was just pretending to be a fire engine.

"When I was gone, they'd say it was so peaceful." He laughs.

In a way, that's still true, he muses.

"When I was traveling a lot, out of town, I never showed up in the newspaper," he says. Lately, he's stuck closer to home.

Bob's been screaming around the neighborhood again, creating the kind of noise that makes headlines.

Israels, 61, is owner of Israels Designs for Fine Living. Part inspired designer, part savvy businessman, he has worked all over the world -- South America, China, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, designing luxury homes and sumptuous decor.

Five things to know about Bob Israels At age 15 months • He's blind in his right eye, but you'd never know it. As a child, he wore a bag over his head with a tiny hole in it for part of each day, which helped train the muscles in that eye to move in conjunction with his left eye as it strained to focus on the pinpoint of light. • He has designed for such celebrities as Anne Murray, Meryl Streep, Perry Como and Tammy Wynette. He designed the nursery for Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson's baby.He's low tech. He pulls a small cardboard calendar and a laminated list of names and phone numbers out of his pocket. "I realized this is all I really need. A calendar and phone numbers." • He was thrown in jail in Ohio at age 15 for driving without a license. He had rented a truck to make a furniture delivery for his dad's business. "The judge fined me $50 and let me go," he says. • When longtime executive assistant Jane Hanenburg had a baby 12 years ago, Israels created a fully furnished nursery in a conference room between his office and hers, rather than lose her. Israels "hired" Baby Benjamin, gave him a time card and paid him $1 a day toward a savings account.

Most people know Israels from the news -- when he started revitalizing his childhood stomping grounds on the city's West Side, investing in The Grand Rapids Child Discovery Center school and renovating the old John Widdicomb Furniture factory. He bought his longtime rival store, Klingman's, in January in a deal that had heads spinning.

He made headlines most recently when he bought the vacant Rogers Department Store building in Wyoming and announced he will turn it into a high-end furniture mega-store for the Klingman's brand, revitalizing Wyoming's 28th Street corridor and drawing shoppers from all over the Midwest.

"The people in Wyoming are wonderful people," he says. "They need something to bring it back up."

After news broke he was buying Rogers, he says he received 7,000 e-mails, phone calls and cards thanking him. He shrugs and smiles.

"It was an opportunity, just sitting there," he says. "Everybody else just walked past it."

Some questioned his sanity.

"Paulette thinks I'm nuts," he says cheerfully of his wife of 40 years, who works as treasurer for the company. "My kids thought I was out of my mind."

"It's so crazy, it makes sense," son David says of the Rogers purchase, sitting in a conference room at the Widdicomb building. He laughs. "I thought he was crazy when he bought this place. I've gotten over the real estate insanity -- because it always works.

"One third of the things we enter into may not make sense on a balance sheet to an accountant, but they make sense," says David, 38, general manager of Israels. He smiles. "Dad told me that there are two types of appreciation. One is the type an appraiser would look at. The other is what people get out of it. I think that makes a lot of sense."

Home, haven

Israels is the first to admit not everybody thinks he makes sense.

"I've been known to do some pretty unconventional things," Israels says. "I live in a $10,000 house, for goodness sake."

He's talking about the modest Alger Heights bungalow he bought decades ago. He and Paulette still live there, on the same block as David's family and their daughter Michelle's family. Son Jason, operations manager for Israels, and his family just recently moved off the block.

"It's our haven," Paulette says. "People think we're crazy. They say we could live anywhere." She smiles. "Why would you want to move when you're already happy?"

It's an Israels philosophy.

Israels' office is in the impressive John Widdicomb Trade Center, at Seward Avenue and Fifth Street NW. He bought the former furniture factory and spent $11 million to convert the 100-year-old mess of a building into a posh showplace for furniture dealers and interior designers.

"It didn't used to have a roof," he notes cheerfully. Now the opulent place is filled with red leather sofas, gleaming tables of exotic wood, sparkling mirrors and fine art. Even the elevator sports four glittering crystal chandeliers.

His clients are rich and often famous.

"They come to Grand Rapids and people don't even know they're here," he says. A guy from Aman, Jordan, flies in but won't stay in Grand Rapids. He stops at Israels, then jets to Las Vegas for the night.

Maybe not for long. Israels is working on a luxury residence in downtown Grand Rapids that will be fit for customer royalty who visit, as well as for hosting high-end fundraisers.

"That's his professional life," Paulette says. "That's not his private life. That's not our social life. We're very quiet people. His haven of peace is our home."

"We can't move out of our little house," Israels says.

He's sentimental. In his office is the memo spindle from his first desk and an egg replica of himself -- complete with strands of his own hair -- that an employee gave him decades ago. "You're a good egg," it reads.

"I keep this close by," he says, reaching for an etching of the 10 Commandments on his desk. "To make sure I do my business right."

Press Photo/Hoyt E. Carrier IITalking home furnishings, circa 1978. He oozes positiveness. "Being negative is absolutely not necessary," Israels says. "We need to concentrate on our dreams. There's got to be more dreaming done."

He started early

He's been in business since he could walk.

When Bob was 2, he collected old coffee cans from neighborhood alleys. The bait shop on Stocking Avenue would pay him 2 cents each for the big ones, a penny for small ones.

"I wasn't allowed to cross the street," he says, "so bigger friends would take 'em over for me." By age 8, he was selling fabric cleaner, Christmas wreaths and strawberries door to door.

"I was making a small fortune," he says with a grin. "I never had trouble making money." He thinks about this for a minute. "But I never tried to make money. It just always felt good to have something somebody wanted. To fill a need."

He grew up with his parents, Ray and Harriet, sisters Joyce and Pam and brother Jim on Lincoln Avenue NW. His dad was an interior designer, and taught him.

He was an independent kid. He tells about a time he wanted to hop a train to a fishing spot three miles away. When the train caboose approached, young Bob hurled himself at it -- and ended up in the creek on the other side, soaking wet, the train rumbling away.

"I learned something, right then," Israels says. "If you want to get along in life, you have to run alongside things, not at 'em. It doesn't pay to get aggressive and get in people's faces."

Deeply religious, he prays a lot. He was born a Jew, but raised Christian Reformed and graduated from Grand Rapids Christian High.

"He'll get on his knees right here in this building," Paulette says. "He believes everything is God's plan."

He went to Ferris State University and Kendall College of Art and Design, learning the art of design and the business of accounting. In 1963, he took over his dad's business, then nurtured it. He opened the Israels retail store in 1979, raising kids and a business at the same time.

When he talks about his kids, it's with the goofy grin of a new dad.

"When David came along, it was the best gift," Israels says. "I went out and bought him a suit. He went with me everywhere. When Michelle came along, what a riot. David would peek over the side of her bassinet. They were the most darling little children. They still are. Oh, what a joy Jason was."

He pauses, smiling, lost in thought for a minute.

"Family is what it's all about," he says. "Not money. Not ego, or prestige. Now that I look back -- shoot, we should have had 12 kids. If I could go back, I would."

Still, work often consumed him. Some years he was gone 256 days a year, he says, but took his family along whenever he could. They camped in hotels with him during summer vacation.

During those days of constant travel, Israels says, people sometimes intimated he would have lots of opportunity for affairs.

He shakes his head and tells about his green plastic bowl. It's from his kitchen cupboard. He carries it with him whenever he travels.

"I put it on the hotel night stand, then empty out my pockets into it," he says. He stands up and demonstrates, plopping his wallet, keys, spare change and white cotton handkerchief on the table.

"So I feel like I'm home," he says.

Despite jetting around the world and being rich, Israels is a pretty simple guy.

"When he's coming home from a trip, I always have a chicken in the oven waiting for him," Paulette says. "I know it's gonna make him happy."

A 'gift' from God

Israels says God gave him "the gift of life." If you look at his medical history, he says, he shouldn't be here. He's had so many bouts with cancer he has to retrieve a notebook to recall the details.

"It isn't easy to talk about," he says. "I got cancer, cancer and more cancer."

It started in 1979 with skin cancer. By 1981, he had stage five melanoma. By 1982, it was in his blood stream, brain, spleen and the back of his eye. He has had 13 operations, at hospitals all over the country.

"We've been dealing with cancer for a long, long time," Paulette says. "An expert told him the reason he's still alive today is because of his positive attitude. That works on his immune system. He believes you always have hope."

In 1982, Israels says, doctors told him he wouldn't survive. He started shutting down the business. He planned his funeral.

"I was 12," David recalls, "and I was told we had six months left with him. That's a real hard thing to hear." Adds Paulette: "It was a very, very, very scary time."

Then, on a Saturday afternoon, Israels got a phone call from an eye cancer specialist from Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. He offered an experimental surgery.

"I told him I had to pray about it," Israels says. "But I'm not one to waste time making a decision. I said yes. My wife drove me to Philadelphia."

Cryosurgery -- the use of extreme cold produced by liquid nitrogen or argon gas -- shrunk the tumor, Israels says. But the cancer came back, and, by 2005, he was told again he would die.

"To get through it, and get through it many times ..." For a minute, the talkative man says nothing.

"This is why Hope Lodge is so important to me," he says. "It's my burning passion right now."

The American Cancer Society's Hope Lodge opened in February at Cherry Street and Jefferson Avenue SE to provide free lodging and transportation to cancer patients during their treatment at Grand Rapids hospitals. Israels is working on a 10-year campaign to raise $10 million for an endowment to keep it running.

"I ask people for a lot of money," he says. "Not just once. I ask constantly. I'm a pain in the neck."

People rarely say no to him, says Dan Pfeiffer, who has worked with Israels on a number of community projects, including Faith Hospice in Byron Center.

"Nobody puts his money where his mouth is more than Bob," says Pfeiffer, president of Pfeiffer Automotive Group, who tells of Israels donating time, money and furniture all over town. "He gets this burning desire, and then he makes things happen."

Changing course

"I don't know half of what he does for people," his wife Paulette says. But she hears him on the phone, talking to strangers who have cancer. "He's an encourager," she says. "He gives hope."

"When I had to deal with my own death ..." Israels says. He stops. "Well, you have to experience things to the fullest, every day. If you don't do that, you don't really exist.

"I had to change my course," he says. "And it showed up in everything I did. Just taking the time to listen to a truck driver who works for me.

"It made me want to give more anonymously," he says. "To make sure the giving didn't have to do with me. It taught me to take risks, to pursue my dreams. I had to take bigger risks, bigger chances."

How's his health now?

"I'm waiting for the next cancer attack," he says bluntly.

His latest health struggle is reflex sympathetic dystrophy, a neurological condition that causes pain and burning in the limbs.

"I'm not one to take these things lying down," he says. He thought a centrifuge might redistribute blood to his extremities. He asked Paulette to go to the playground and whirl him around on the merry-go-round. It helped.

Now, he's inventing a chair to treat his condition. He's pretty excited about it.

"This chair is really gonna work," Israels says. Does it spin?

"Does it spin?" He laughs. "It'll suck your eyeballs out."

He's been spinning in his prototype since March, he says, and feeling better.

"When you have all these challenges," Israels muses, "it creates more opportunity for enjoying every single day.

"I don't feel much different than when I was 5."

He grins. "I could still go screaming around the block in my wagon."

Courtesy PhotoIsraels with two of his grandsons, Max, left, and Alex. "The most important thing in life is love," Israels says. "It's the most powerful tool. It's a vehicle that outstrips any atomic bomb. There's not a thing in the world that can't be conquered if you have love in it." It seems sort of sappy for a high-powered business man. Run this past his wife, Paulette, and she smiles. "He just loves. He's very precious. He really is."

My stimulator helps quite a bit. However, as those with RSD/CRPS know, when the pain kicks into overdrive, not only are you in extreme pain, but your whole body reacts to it. I may be keeping myself moving, but it goes very slowly.

As for the yogurt trip, it was great. As he, my son, gets older, his friendships with other people grow exponentially. I am at this point slowly pushed out of the loop. So I really am doing what I can to secure my time with him, and to make it special when I do.

On another note, he is going back to public school. He goes back this September. I am heartbroken, but what can I do? I realize in the homeschooling community that I would hear: "You're his mom, you can make him stay home." But at what cost? His dad and I have prided ourselves on allowing our son free will and free thinking. If I was to curb his free will by keeping him home, I could very well be curbing his free thinking.

Thank you for listening/reading. I would like to start a new thing here. TO ALL MY READERS AND NEWCOMERS: I would love to tell of other peoples stories so that the HUGE RSD/CRPS community can see what others are going through. So please, should you feel compelled, SUBMIT YOUR STORY. Let me know 1. How you acquired RSD/CRPS; 2. What treatments you have received; 3. What helps you make it out of bed and into the day?

Hugs.

My acupuncture appointments started last week, May 19, 2008. My biggest fear about having acupuncture done was the fact that I now live with a nerve disorder. I am now hypersensitive to pain and bumps and bruises. At this point though I cannot let that keep me from trying new things to help get me back into life again. Needless to say, my fear came true. The first needle prick right around my right knee hurt so badly I started crying. BUT we practiced breathing and we kept going. The rest went in smoothly. I visit the Home and Soul located in El Cajon, CA. I have to turn off my stimulator to lay down and for about 3 hours following the appointment I can leave it off.

There are many locations of pain when you deal with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy/Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. Your main location of RSD/CRPS might be, as is in my case, in the knees. However, because of NOT walking correctly, and NOT moving around enough because of the pain, learning how to get going again as well as using muscles that encompass activity, cause many more new pains. I am grateful for the help I am receiving to work through these pains.

Three appointments later and I am very grateful I have been given this opportunity. I have been able to walk down to the boy's friends house to bring him home for dinner. While it doesn't sound like much, to walk to where he is is about 10 houses down. If you have been following me you'll remember that I couldn't even make it to my driveway without an extreme amount of pain. We also have numerous trails out the back of our house and I have walked on a couple of them.

Slow and steady will win this race Maybe, just maybe, these little trails will lead me up to the most important trail of them all. MY WATERFALL!!!       

It's very easy to fall into a constant state of depression. The medications I took to help the pain did not help the depression. Which I believe in turn did not help the pain. I have a nerve disorder, it does not have me. I live with pain, it does not control me. I have a great support group of family, doctors, therapists, and now my acupuncturist. I am blessed.

I will always go through trials and tribulations; however, the last year and a half have been the most extreme I think I have ever been through. I will have flare ups and will require constant monitoring of my activities and am nervous about future injuries, but I need to live.

Google News Alert for: reflex sympathetic dystrophy

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We are not quite settled yet, so I don't know how soon I will be back on. Let me at least give this synopsis of my life since my injury, treatments and medications:

12/2/06 - Injured

12/3/06 - Emergency Room (Prescribed Vicodin)

12/8/06 - Primary Care

12/14/06 - Physical Therapy - only 3 sessions

1/1/07 - Emergency Room - My knee collapsed and hurt more than EXTREMELY (X-ray, nothing found)

1/2007 - Back to primary - referred to Ortho and for MRI

2/2007 - MRI (nothing found)

2/2007 - Orthopedic (informed me he would like to have my knees, really upset me cause I hurt so badly)

3/2007 - Physical Medicine - prescribed Cymbalta for nerve pain

3/2007 - Water therapy - here I learned about RSD, went home and did LOTS of research (keep in mind, in January I was online frantically looking up why my knee could hurt so badly - I found condromalacia, I found patella problems, I found ripped tendons, EVERYTHING BUT RSD - guess putting into google EXTREME KNEE PAIN wasn't enough)

3/2007 - Requested referral to pain management - I wanted to get in quickly so that I could get my problem turned around - to keep it from becoming chronic

3/2007 - Still in water therapy - Hurt like hell - but I could also feel that my muscles were responding well - The water was good for them (then I got a bill for $400.00 out of the blue and couldn't afford to finish or do more (I would love to go back to this, and will one day)

4/2007 - Pain management doctor - GREAT DOCTOR he listed to what I had to say, he asked questions that properly follow process of elimination, etc.

5/23/2007 - Nerve block done - PM called it a diagnostic tool - The relief lasted about 2 days - They were GLORIOUS 2 days

7/2007 - Fitted with Trial Stimulator - it was wonderful, until Friday when I wiped my butt and the lead moved, so I had to turn it off

8/20/2007 - Fitted with permanent stimulator - I started moving around doing things to try and make me stronger - well I moved too much and my Sept/Oct my lead had popped out of place

11/2007 - Saw psychologist and psychiatrist - put on depression medicine

01/08/2008 - Lead revision done to fix lead in spine

1/20/2008 - Scar on upper incision got infected went to Emergency room

From then until now, 5/7/08, I have made great strides in my life. I cannot remember the order of all my medications, nor can I remember the dosages of each and everyone, but here is an attempt to give you my trials:

Vicodin 5/500 // Ibprofen 800 // Nortriptyline 10mg (Flipped out on my son, went mental, got off, got better) // Cymbalta // Gabapentin (Caused amnesia after 2-3 months on it) // Zoloft // Trazadone // Zanaflex // Lyrica (caused my left eye to go blurry and my right eye muscle to droop - better as soon as I got off) // Morphine Sulphate 15mg am/pm // Vicodin 10/325

I am still in pain. I think though because I am not masking it with medications I can learn to live with SOME of the pain and will NEVER be 100% - I try acupuncture here in about 10 days - I am hoping that it will give me that extra push to walk across the street or ride my bike without all the pain each of those cause me now.

I hope and pray that you can take from my experience and use it to your benefit. I will continue blogging, but soon I hope it will be about what I am getting up to go and do, not "I was stuck in bed again today" - I pray I will one day be past that - I still spend a bit of time in bed or sitting reclining position, but I really am trying to get the strength I need from my stimulator (which has helped tremendously) and make it through just today!!!

I may have missed some stuff above, but you get the idea - If I remember more I will post it. But for now this is me and this is what I have been through in the last year and a half learning to live life with an incurable condition.

Love, Me

Thank you Christine for your interest in me and my RSD Coaching™. I am delighted and honored to be mentioned on your website. Let me start by telling you a little about myself. My name is Marla Martindale. I live in Abilene, Texas with my husband and two dogs. Some of my other family are here in Abilene as well as in other parts of Texas, and there are some in Missouri.

I have been afflicted with RSD since October 2003 due to a severe break to my left ankle. Then in October 2007 I was diagnosed with full body RSD, Fibromyalgia, Osteoporosis, and MS. So I know about different types of pain and I have made it my life’s mission to focus on those of us who are afflicted with RSD for coaching.

When I was first diagnosed with RSD in Oct. 2003 I was so confused and didn’t know where to turn or what to do. There was so little known about it and unfortunately that is still the case. So I wanted to do anything I could to get the word out, to make people aware that Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy exists and is real. I researched everything and everywhere I possibly could, I talked to anyone who would listen to me.

During the researching and talking I was also learning. Learning many aspects of RSD. The good, the bad, and the ugly. You are probably saying, “The good? Is there anything good about having RSD?” Yes there is, with my RSD Coaching™ I will coach you on how you can get to know yourself on a level that you would have never done before.

With my coaching, you will begin to understand things from your minds eye, from the inside out. Once you begin to understand yourself, your mental strength begins to build allowing you to use many of my RSD Coaching™ methods to coping with all the daily obstacles we face that cause us distress and/or pain.

My RSD Coaching™ tools are all different and an example of one would be my RSD Harmony Lessons™, with my coaching you will discover how to create a joyful, stress-less, easy and effortless life starting by changing your thoughts, then your feelings and finally your actions.

You will also discover how to give yourself the gift of harmony of body, mind and spirit regardless of what chaos surrounds you.

By putting all my RSD Coaching™ with my research is the best way I benefit you and be your coach. So, I studied some more, did more research and became the first known RSD Coach™. And I carry that title proudly and with honor because it the light that allows me to share my gift with you. I have taken an Oath as to how I will treat others in business as well as personal, which can be found on my website A Winning Life With RSD

As your RSD Coach™, I get the pleasure of helping you in ways many doctors can’t, your families can’t and your friends can’t, why? Because if they haven’t lived with RSD, then they don’t understand how it feels to put your feet on the floor and have it feel as if there were thousands of rusty, dull nails trying to wedge their way into the bottom of your feet….I do, I live it, and I have conquered it and I want to share that with you.

I will also coach your family and friends so they better understand what you are going through and they themselves will begin to grow, empathize, and support you better.

You are the afflicted person, so it is important for you to have support from your family and friends as well as doctors and others.

It always amazes me when someone with RSD says they hate going to the doctor because they are not being believed about the amount of pain they have been in. If that doctor hasn’t lived with this horrible disorder or any other painful disorder, how do they really know what you are going through? How can they even begin to empathize?

They can’t. So who can?

It takes someone who has lived through it to help you live through it.

It takes someone who understands how much pain you have to allow you to be able to release that burden so you can move on to a more joyful life.

It takes someone who knows how difficult it is to take a shower or a bath to develop ways for you to be able to conquer that as well.

My RSD Coaching™ has many steps for you to go through, there is a certain process to reaching your ultimate goal, and takes someone who is going to be there with you step by step, coaching you through your journey. That person is me, your RSD Coach™. I am so proud to be able to coach you, and guiding you through the many levels to where you are smiling again and living a more full filled life.

You deserve the gift of an RSD Coaching Package™ that feels right for you.

You chose the package that feels right for you and I will coach you every step of the way.

Standard RSD Coaching Package™:
* Three 40 minute calls a month or Two 1 hour calls a month.
* Email Welcome Kit™
* Up to 10 Emails or Faxes per month
* $100.00 a month
Advance RSD Coaching Package™:
* Four 40 minute calls a month or Two 1 hour calls and One 40 minute call a month
* Email Welcome Kit™
* Up to 15 Emails or Faxes per month
* RSD Harmony Lessons™
* $150.00 a month
Premier RSD Coaching Package™:
* Four 45 minute calls a month or Three 1 hour calls a month
* Email Welcome Kit™
* Up to 100 Emails or Faxes per month
* RSD Gift Set™
* RSD Harmony Lessons™
* RSD Self Discovery™
* Other Educational Materials mailed directly to you as well as emailed.
* $220.00 a month
InnerCircle Group™:
* Two 1 hour calls a month
* Group Setting for comfortability
* $25.00 a month

I also do a radio talk show every Tuesday at 1:00pm CST, which can be found at:

www.rsdcoachlive.com . I have guest who share their stories of how they conquered their struggles with different afflictions, authors, and even doctors who share different theories of why we are all getting ill.

So come and spend an interesting hour, sometimes its two hours, with me on the radio.

There is also a phone number that you can call in with questions or comments for the guests or myself, or you can be a guest yourself to help get the word out about RSD.

That number is 347-324-5661.

If you have any questions for me, or are ready to be empowered and start your journey to a more full filled life, please feel free to email me at winninglife@rsdcoach.com .

Thank you again Christine for spotlighting me on your website. It is a pleasure and an honor to be here. I look forward to working with you in the future.

I have a Special Offer for all of Christine’s readers!

Send me an email to winninglife@rsdcoach.com and request your FREE RSD Report™.

Offer good through May 4, 2008.

In His Glory,

RSD Coach™ Marla

Email: winninglife@rsdcoach.com

Phone: 325-692-8584

Fax: 206-309-0209

RSD Coaching™ Website: A Winning Life With RSD

Radio Talk Show: Winning Life Through Pain

From the blog owner:

Now on a side note: Below you see RSS awareness day - People in the blogging "community" are attempting to show people that there are many ways to read blogs. Well, RSS, brings the blog to you, instead of you going to the blog.

Sailing gives me a sense of freedom that I never thought would be possible again ...

Hilary Lister had her life worked out from an early age. It was all planned, she was going to be a biochemist. She knew which exams she needed to pass, what grades she had to get, even where she wanted to work! Simple. Just stick to the plan.

Growing up in Hampshire with three brothers resulted in Hilary being a bit of a tomboy. Hilary went to a boarding school just outside of Deal, in Kent when she was 8. She enjoyed an active lifestyle and participated in a variety of sports. Particular favourites were hockey, swimming and netball (captaining her school team in each sport). Hilary also fenced and was placed 3rd in 1984 in the Kent Under 13 competition. Hilary also enjoyed rugby and canoeing.

When Hilary was 11, she began to experience discomfort in her knees whenever she played her beloved sport. It started with shooting pains in her legs, which she first dismissed as growing pains.

By the time Hilary turned 13, she was in pain everyday and by the age of 15, she could no longer walk. Not something a teenager needs at that stage in her life. Doctors put Hilary in plaster from ankle to thigh and she was given a wheelchair. This meant Hilary was unable to return to school, which was difficult as it was the beginning of her GCSE year.

Hilary tried as much as possible to lead a ‘normal’ life - albeit on 4 wheels rather than 2 legs! She continued to play the clarinet with the Oxford County Youth Orchestra. By the time she was 23 she had toured all over Europe and was regularly playing in venues such as the Festival and Royal Albert Halls in London. Hilary also gained her Teaching Diploma in 1991 from the Guildhall School of Music. She won the only music scholarship for sixth form entrants to the King’s School, Canterbury which allowed her to go back to school.

Hilary has an amazing sense of not letting life pass her by, which became evident in her teenage years. Despite her body slowly giving up on her and becoming paraplegic, Hilary did not sit in her chair doing nothing. She started swimming and working out in the gym several times a week. Hilary’s commitment saw her swim fast enough to qualify for the Great Britain Paralympics squad. However she could not commit to the training schedule due to her desire to complete her school exams. After all, she was going to be a biochemist!

It was then discovered Hilary had a progressive neurological disorder, diagnosed as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD), which meant that over the coming years, as Hilary grew into a young woman, she would gradually begin to lose the use of almost all of her body whilst still leaving her in incredible pain.

Hilary studied biochemistry at Jesus College, Oxford receiving a high 2.1, despite having to dictate her papers whilst flat on her back with an epidural drip on her spine. Hilary was offered a DPhil position at Oxford but chose to move to the University of Kent in Canterbury, to be near Clifford, her husband whom Hilary married in 1999.

Just before she married Clifford, Hilary began to lose the use of her hands and arms. Hilary could no longer drive, continue her work as a biochemist, or play her clarinet. More than that, the most basic tasks, like eating and washing, suddenly had to be done for her.

With her condition worsening, Hilary was forced to give up her life bit by bit - her mobility, her career as a biochemist, a secondary career as a clarinet teacher and most importantly, her independence.

After losing everything she had always worked so hard to achieve, Hilary was housebound. After four years of complete inactivity and total dependence on others, she began to weigh up whether the quality of her life made it worthwhile continuing. During these darkest moments she was tempted to end it all but then there was a miracle.

A friend introduced her to sailing. It was the first time she had left the house in three months. "Going out of the front door that day was the hardest thing I'd ever done", she says. Within a few minutes of being at the lake however, out in the wind and sunshine again, she had fallen in love with sailing and had found a new reason for living. It provided a fresh impetus and transformed life for Hilary.

Hilary’s condition now is such that she is quadriplegic, only able to move her head, eyes and mouth. She lives in Kent with her husband Clifford and their chocolate labrador Lotti. Her home is wheelchair friendly and equipped with modern technology allowing her to use her computer through voice recognition. Through a switch she operates with her forehead, Hilary is able to control some of her environment, like changing channels on the television, answering the phone and opening the front door.

However, she relies totally on her husband, carers and friends to do so much of her life for her.

When Hilary says "sailing saved my life", she means it ...

In October 2007 I was not only diagnosed again with RSD, but now they threw in Fibromyalgia,Osteoporosis and Multiple Sclerosis. And to be totally honest with you, I really don't give those much thought because frankly none of them can compare to RSD, so I have embraced it and have learned so much about myself, and am still learning things everyday, and I have LOVED what I have learned and what I continue to learn. And I look forward to helping you learn about yourself.

Marla has been diagnosed with RSD, MS, and Fibromyalgia, not all in that order. If someone knows pain, it would have to be her. She was recently fitted with a Spinal Cord Stimulator. She posted BlogTalks for the days during her trial. On the second day I was lucky enough to have gotten the chance to call into her show to discuss life with the Spinal Cord Stimulator. I have attached a link to the show and to her website and blog.

I feel that there is something each of us goes through when afflicted with unimaginable pain. That something is left in the air each of us knowing it's there, not saying a word. However, if we don't talk out loud and explain it, then people who don't suffer like we do won't ever know the depth of what we go through. They won't realize that our souls and hearts were once outgoing and full of life. That our minds were clear and our homes, bills, and children were well taken care of. That running around in the street playing Air Soft was the norm, not the exception. That hiking to a beautiful waterfall happened every year, until now. The fatigue and tiredness are not welcome by us, but despised, however, if we try to fight it, it wins.

An example of how I live my life happened on Friday: I took it easy for the day knowing the worst was yet to come. At 5:45pm my mom and I dropped off the boy at the field to get ready for his baseball game. From there we went to the pharmacy as she had some items to pick up. Amazingly I didn't. She drove the entire time. I wanted to make sure I would be able to handle that night. Realizing that my son didn't have water or a snack, late game, we pulled into Vine Ripe Market and proceeded to get out of the car. From the car to the shopping cart, my body decided to argue. We finished up, grabbing tangerines (my favorite), apples, and water, and headed back to the field. By this time I was hurting pretty badly. Since my mom was driving back, and I had a long night ahead of me, I took two of my Norco (10/325 hydrocodone). At the field, my mom pulled out my chair and pillow and we made it to the bleachers. We realized early on that the children and adults going up and down bleachers hurts, so no more. Sad to say though even the soft, comfy pillow in the chair still causes me to hurt.

It was an amazing game. My son made two of the points in the 18 point total. I am so proud, and so is he. Using this added exhilaration we followed all the team members, ours and opposite team, to Boll Weivels for an after game celebration. Boy did all the kids have fun. There were special chairs and tables set aside just for our team, but I couldn't sit there. So my mom and I went to a booth that was close by. We had dinner and just sat there. Lucky for me, I have a child that I say "You have 10 minutes" and my child says "ok." I say "no arguing when it's time to leave" and he says "do I ever?" We left early. The thing I missed out on: conversations with other parents of the children. My son had a blast and was able to play with many children from his team and the other team. It was great for him as I always need to leave practice and games quickly because I often hurt. So I "sucked it up" and now have been in bed for the last 2 days. It was worth it though to see the excitement and look on my sons face when his team won the game 18-7 and the flushed looked of running around with friends.

American Pain Foundation
Log in Page
http://painaid.painfoundation.org/login.php?page=

United States Department of Human Services
http://www.hhs.gov/

Clinical Trials.gov
http://clinicaltrials.gov/

RSDS - CRPS News
http://rsds-crps-news.blogspot.com/

Psychiatric Times- RSD
http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=189500108

NIH Pain Consortium
http://painconsortium.nih.gov/pain_index.html

National Institute of Arthritis and Muscularskeletal and Skin Diseases
What is Fibromyalgia?
http://www.niams.nih.gov/hi/topics/fibromyalgia/fffibro.htm

Coalition of professional and voluntary organizations concerned with the programs of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)
http://www.niams.nih.gov/hi/coalition/resources.htm

Reports
Congressional Justifications
http://www.niams.nih.gov/ne/reports/congree_rep/cj2001/significitems.html

WorkCompCentral
http://www.workcompcentral.com

Workers Compensation Action Network
http://www.fixworkerscompnow.org/

Lawyers.com
Workers Comp
http://www.lawyers.com/lawyers/C~P~California~Employment~Workers%20Compensation~LDS~City.html

Research Legal Topics
http://www.lawyers.com/legal_topics/browse_by_topic/index.php?site=&eid=

Support and Chat Groups

In His Hands with RSD
http://groups.msn.com/InHishandswithRSDandChronicPain

Pain Pals
http://www.angelfire.com/me2/rsdpainpals/links.html

Yahoo RSD Groups
http://groups.yahoo.com/search?query=RSD

Pumpsters (Intrathecal pumps)
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/pumpsters/

I Village RSD Chat Community
http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-bhrsd/

Social Security and Workers Compensation

National Organization of Social Security Claimant’s Representative (NOSSCR)
http://www.nosscr.org/

AFL/CIO Web Site
http://www.aflcio.org/

All 50 States
http://www.comp.state.nc.us/ncic/pages/all50.htm

Injured Workers of America
http://www.injuredworkers4change.org/injured.htm

Job Accommodation Network
http://janweb.icdi.wvu.edu/

Workers Comp Rx
http://www.workerscomprx.com/main.asp

Pain

Central Pain Syndrome Alliance
http://www.centralpain.com/

Pain and Health
http://www.painandhealth.org/

Rehabilitation Facilities
http://www.carf.org/

Office of Rare Diseases
http://rarediseases.info.nih.gov/

National Foundation for the Treatment of Pain
http://www.paincare.org/

NINDS
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/reflex_sympathetic_dystrophy/reflex_sympathetic_dystrophy.htm

NIH Pain Consortium
http://painconsortium.nih.gov/

NORD
http://www.rarediseases.org/

Partners Against Pain
http://www.partnersagainstpain.com/

Pain.com
http://www.pain.com/
Health

NEADS (Dogs for Deaf and Disabled Americans)
http://www.neads.org/index.shtml

CareGiver.com
http://www.caregiver.com/

RSD Org (Directory)
http://www.rsd.org/index.asp

Sympathetic Dystrophy (Directory)
http://www.tunu.com/sear/r/e/Reflex_Sympathetic_Dystrophy.html
Associations

American Acadamy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
http://www.aapmr.org/

American Acadamy of Pain Management
http://www.aapainmanage.org/

ACPA (American Chronic Pain Association)
http://www.theacpa.org/

American Pain Foundation
http://www.painfoundation.org/

APS (American Pain Society)
http://www.ampainsoc.org/

IASP (International Association for the Study of Pain)
http://www.ampainsoc.org/
Medical Societies

ASA (American Society of Anesthesiologists)
http://www.asahq.org/

Diplomats of the American Board of Pain Medicine
http://www.abpm.org/diplomates/index.html

PainEDU
http://www.painedu.org/

National Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
http://www.rsdtherapy.com/?gclid=CO6R4o-Ip4UCFQvOJAodNShW0A

Informative Links

RSD Advisor- http://www.rsdadvisor.com

Clinical Research Studies- http://clinicalstudies.info.nih.gov/detail/A_2000-NR-0200.html

Tame the Pain- http://www.medtronic.com/neuro/ttp/index.html?c=overture_ppc&kw=rsd

American RSDHope- http://www.rsdhope.org/

Aware RSD- http://www.aware-rsd.org/

Neurology Channel- http://www.neurologychannel.com/rsd/

Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome America- http://www.rsds.org/index2.html

Microsurgeon.org- http://www.microsurgeon.org/rsd.htm

AboutRSD- http://www.aboutrsd.com/

Pain.com- http://www.pain.com/

RSD Online- http://www.rsd-online.org/

Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Association of California- http://www.rsdsa-ca.org/

Treatment, Education and research- http://www.rsdrx.com/index.html

RSD Friends- www.rsdfriends.org

RSD Info- http://www.rsdinfo.com

RSD Awareness- www.rsdawareness.com

RSD Escape- www.rsdescape.com

Sympathetic.org- http://www.sympathetic.org/

RSD Foundation- www.rsdfoundation.org

Podiatry Channel- http://www.podiatrychannel.com/rsd/

RSD Care- www.rsdcare.com

For Grace.org- www.forgrace.org

California RSD Lawyers- http://www.california-rsd-lawyers.com/

National Institutes of Health
http://www.nih.gov/

Division of Thoracic & Foregut Surgery
http://www.stronghealth.com/services/surgical/thoracic/RSDS.cfm

Sudeck`s dystrophy
http://www.sudeck-dystrophy.com/

Pain Defeat
http://www.paindefeat.com/wiki/PDFT/RSDS

Here is some info:
Hosted By: Erikka Elsbury
When: Saturday May 17th, 2008
at 12:00 AM
Where: Madison High School Track
3100 Burns Rd.
Madison, OH 44057
United States

Description:
Erikka Elsbury
If you are interested in finding out more, contact Ma(r)sha or Life is Too Short For Pain in my friends area.
Or click on this link:
http://events. myspace. com/index. cfm?fuseaction=events. detail&eventID=418412. 22588
I wish you all hope and possibility.

The Scooter Store Donates Power Scooter to Former NYPD Officer Who Responded to 9/11

Gift of Mobility lets disabled Middle Island man enjoy his young family and active life.

Like so many other young men, Kevin was there when his country needed him most. And the least we can do is show our appreciation for his sacrifice.

Middle Island, NY (PRWEB) April 7, 2008 -- After terrorists attacked the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, New York City Patrolman Kevin O'Connor was dispatched to help at the scene. Now, more than seven years later, O'Connor needs help overcoming respiratory complications from working at Ground Zero and injuries suffered later in the line of duty.

At 32, Mr. O'Connor wants to enjoy an active life. But the married father of three young children is disabled because of respiratory problems and a debilitating condition that resulted from being struck by an all-terrain vehicle driven by a teenager. Mr. O'Connor has struggled to maneuver his manual wheelchair and needs power mobility equipment to improve his quality of life.

Citing Mr. O'Connor's many contributions to our society, The SCOOTER Store has helped the disabled officer by providing him with a power scooter though its Gift of Mobility program. The donation was a surprise to Mr. O'Connor, who received it at a benefit sponsored by his friends at the Smithtown Country Kitchen on April 6. Distribution Center Managers Anthony Pepe and George Santos from The SCOOTER Store presented the power wheelchair at the Sunday event.

The donation was made in cooperation with the FealGood Foundation, which was formed to help 9/11 responders. "We thank The SCOOTER Store for helping make this event a wonderful experience for Kevin," said John Feal, who runs the foundation. "Like so many other young men, Kevin was there when his country needed him most. And the least we can do is show our appreciation for his sacrifice."

US Representative Tim Bishop (D-NY), who attended the event, said: "Our nation owes a great debt to the brave first responders who risked their lives to save others. Kevin O'Connor well deserves this gift, generously donated by the SCOOTER Store. We must continue to fight to give 9/11 first responders the health care and other assistance they need because of the sacrifices they have made."

Suffolk County Legislator John M. Kennedy Jr. also attended the event, which attracted a large crowd of supporters.

Mr. Feal says he appreciated how quickly The SCOOTER Store worked with the foundation to make the gift to Mr. O'Connor possible.

Times have been difficult for Mr. O'Connor, who suffers from respiratory problems and post-traumatic stress syndrome caused by his assignment to help clean up the site of the destroyed towers. Later, after Mr. O'Connor went to work as a park policeman. He was hurt in the line of duty when a teenager operating an ATV, illegally, ran him over. He developed reflex sympathetic dystrophy, which is a chronic, painful and progressive neurological condition affecting skin, muscles, joints and bones.

His wife, Catherine, says the whole family will benefit from the scooter because "it will allow us to go out as a family, to places like the zoo, the circus, and even trick-or-treating on Halloween - places, where I have had to go alone with our little kids." With the scooter, Mr. O'Connor can join them and also help his family by doing errands. A lift for the chair was donated by Harmar Mobility of Sarasota, Florida, when they heard about Mr. O'Connor's need.

Doug Harrison, CEO and Founder of The SCOOTER Store, said he is pleased that "the scooter will greatly improve the quality of life for the O'Connor and his family. We are proud to be able to help this hero who has already given so much of himself to others."

Mr. Harrison and his wife, Susanna, started the Gift of Mobility program in December 2002 to help people like Mr. O'Connor improve their quality of life by recovering their independence and mobility. Since then, the outreach program has worked with organizations around the world to donate power wheelchairs, scooters and manual wheelchairs valued at more than $200,000 a year to community service organizations, enabling them to provide freedom and independence to individuals with limited mobility.

The primary mission of the FealGood Foundation (www.fealgoodfoundation.com), a nonprofit organization, is to spread awareness and educate the public about the catastrophic health effects on 9/11 first responders, as well as to provide assistance to relieve these great heroes of the financial burdens placed on them. A secondary goal of the foundation is to create an advocacy network on 9/11 health issues. The foundation advocates for Ground Zero workers, and shows them how to be their own advocates and help others through grassroots activism.

About The SCOOTER Store
Since 1991, The SCOOTER Store has helped provide freedom and independence to more than 300,000 people with limited mobility. The SCOOTER Store offers a full line of durable medical equipment, including power wheelchairs and scooters, lifts, ramps and accessories in 47 states, including three stores in the New York area. The SCOOTER Store has worked with more than 100,000 physicians, providing expertise and quality service to their patients, and is accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Health Care.

For more information, contact:
Mark B. Leita
Director of Public Affairs - The SCOOTER Store
830-627-4717

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So as my title says, we are moving. This is definitely not by choice. We were given a 60 day notice today. It's ok. Maybe we'll get a slightly bigger home, you know, to fit all of us. LOL.

Tomorrow, I will tell you about a great story I just found. A Policeman, 9/11, and Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy. Very heart wrenching to say the least.

Always pain free hugs.