Lisa Fitzgerald
“Spending quality time with my family and making memories is the most important thing to me, now more than ever,” wrote Lisa. “I have always looked forward to vacations and going on new adventures. It breaks my heart that I have ALS and my girls will have to grow up without me. “I have always wanted to go out west with my family and see some National parks! Before my diagnosis derailed me, we were hoping to go there this summer or next. I am only in my 40’s and want to experience this with my teenage daughters.”
- The Grand Canyon
- Zion National Park
- Bryce Canyon National Park
- Capital Reef National Park
- Arches National Park
- Dinosaur National Monument
As for Lisa’s favorite part, “It was so different from Pennsylvania; we loved seeing so many different things! The hoodoos at Bryce Canyon were probably our favorite.
Hoodoos are the tall, thin, spires of rock. You can read more about them at the National Park Service website (https://www.nps.gov/brca/learn/nature/hoodoos.htm).
ALS did bring up some new obstacles for Lisa, “Hiking was a challenge; I used to love doing that. We had to do really short hikes. Also the feeding tube was a challenge in restrooms.”
A few months after returning from their summer road trip, Lisa was able to reflect on what this adventure meant to her: “It’s priceless. Probably my last road trip. I really enjoyed showing this to my girls. We loved spending time with each other.”
And lest we forget the oddities that come with adventures, “It seemed strange that you would see cows on the road. No fences and there were no guard rails there, especially on mountains!”
