About the challenge

The Challenge - 

Starting September 1, 2013, I will squat with my current body weight of 210lbs at least once below parallel, and on the last day of each month I will attempt to squat as many times as possible.

The Why - 

I am doing this to raise awareness about severe brain illnesses and what I feel is a missing option is treatment.

Both of my parents are currently battling different illnesses. My mom has MS and my dad has early onset dementia.

While it has been tough to watch them both go through this, it has made me aware of something I feel is missing and very important.  A care facility or hospital where patients can go to get the required care with out the expensive cost. This year in the US it is estimated to cost $203 billion to care for those with Alzheimer's and the estimated cost for those battling MS in the US is $23 billion.

$226 billion just in treatment and care, a large amount of this comes from the patients and their families.

Wouldn't it be great if there was a facility where patients could visit to get treatment and for the top doctors and researchers in the world to study and search for cures, all while not further impacting patients and their families.

Our nation has many great facilities that treat many awful illnesses, St Jude's children hospital being a model of what I wish there was for brain illnesses, and yet as our population grows older and more and more people are diagnosed with these long term, debilitating illnesses, we yet to have a place to treat them without the current expense.

While I know I may not be able to fund the beginning of such a place it is my hope that by doing something to raise awareness, it will be the start, and one day patients and families will not have to worry or lose life savings to care for a loved one.

A little more about  why and how I came up with this- 

My mother is almost 52 and was diagnosed in early 2004 shortly after a move from NY to Ireland, and while she has had her ups and downs during her fight, she is still very much so winning, she goes about her day like most other people, and if you did not know, you may not even notice anything was wrong.  About a year ago, she was told her MS had progressed beyond the treatment of current medicine.  But since then she has continued to live her life, planning taking vacations around Europe and even back to NY and Florida.

My father is 52 and was diagnosed  about a year ago. Frontotemporal dementia is a rather nasty form of dementia, it's progression is often faster and more aggressive then other forms.  My father is still active, he enjoys going to movies and theater shows, and loves going to baseball games.  The illness, by its nature and its progression is evident, but he remains active and along with my family are looking into treatment options.

Since starting Crossfit, I have been a part of many great fund raisers, my first workout of the day (WOD) was Fight Gone Bad that was raising money for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation and Infant Swimming Resources.  The Crossfit Community seems to rally around good causes, and it was this reason, that I wanted to incorporate Crossfit and my goal.  I admit am not the strongest, nor do I possess great gymnastics skills (think handstands or work on gymnastics rings) but I can squat, and I feel (along with a lot of other people) that developing a strong squat has a very large number of positive carry overs.  This is not the first time a challenge like this has been done, if you check out this link HERE you can read about a very strong Crossfit coach and athlete Dave Lipson, who completed 365 days of squats with 455lbs (thats a lot of weight).  So that is how I came up with my challenge and goals.