Saturday, May 1, 2010

Ally's Army Pep Rally

I have mentioned on here before that 2 friends are running the Team in Training Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati on behalf of Ally. One is her principal, and a friend of mine, Lisa Walk. The other is her PE teacher-Will Hamilton, who also so happens to be married to her current 2nd grade teacher! The Hamiltons spend a lot of time between them with our girl Ally. Lisa and Will have had to train in the worst of conditions all winter long and have raised over $5000 between them for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society with Ally as their honored hero.

Tomorrow is the big day....they are running! And it is supposed to be near monsoon conditions with heavy heavy rains. I am sure all their training will have paid off.

In preparation for their run, they held a pep rally at school to give Will/Lisa a good send off and give them an energy boost. Lisa got on the announcements and gave a wonderful talk about why they are doing this...that Valley is a family and family take care of their own...and (to paraphase) that it is hard work and sometimes when they don't feel like running anymore they just think of Ally and all the things that she has had to do that she didn't want to do either!

Then, about 600 kids lined the hallways of Valley Elementary and Lisa/Will ran up and down getting high fives from the kids. The whole time, the kids were chanting "Ally's Army...Ally's Army..." It was deafeningly loud and amazing to watch. It was one of the most moving experiences I have ever had in my whole life. I could barely focus through my tears, and it brings me to tears every time I even talk about it. All 600 kids...the Valley family...chanting one single chant. My girl's name. It was such an amazing show of support...for Will, for Lisa, for me....and for ALLY!

And what did Ally do? She blended right into the wall and sat quietly. Just taking it all in. She was in her "steroid trance" which was too bad because I think she would have been showing some ecstatic emotions if she felt normal. Luckily, I have the whole thing on video and can show her again.

I still can't believe what I saw that day. I saw it all through my clouded tears. Saw my friend sitting right next to me crying. Teachers crying. I even saw one of Ally's best friends all choked up in tears. It was amazing. They are amazing. Thank you Will and Lisa and Good Luck with your race. Thank you for running for her, but thank you most of all for being right there with us everyday...leaders of Ally's Army.

Watch the video..you will see. The cheers just keep getting louder and louder as it goes on.


9 comments:

  1. Wow, that was fantastic!!!! I did not even get to the video before the tears came. It is amazing how people come together, thanks so much for sharing that and I hope they are both well today, running in the rain. Ally's Army is stronger than ever. Great job by you and all of the Valley family.

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  2. Max told me about that. I got chills as he was telling me how they chanted for Ally. Then, when I saw the video...WOW! Awesome! That's something you'll never forget, I'm sure.

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  3. Awesome! Valley is a special place! Good luck Will and Lisa!

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  4. Oh Janelle,
    to see and hear all of those little friends cheering for Ally's fight...simply AMAZING! WOW! Beavercreek is so awesome and how impressive that Ally's principal and gym teacher have not only trained so hard and raised money for Ally's fight, but involved every member of the school...AMAZING!

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  5. Probably about the coolest thing EVER! I now can't wait for Owen to join that "family" in the fall. Good luck to Will and Lisa and can't wait to hear how they did!

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  6. Ok So I too didn't even get to the videa before tears were streaming down my face... but once I watched the video... the intensity of those kids... the love the vibrance... I could just feel the energy... fighting the fight....WAY TO GO VALLEY!!! and thanks Principal Walk and Mr. Hamilton!!!
    Lara

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  7. Well, that just made me cry. That is so awesome that you have such a great support system. Hope your week goes well.

    Much Love, Cathy O'dell

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  8. I cried also! What an amazing show of support! We are so proud of Ally's Army! Keep going guys!
    We miss you guys!

    Jackie, Jason and Hollie Greene

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  9. Ally's Army!! That is my new battle-cry. Awesome..actually, it literally did make me cry. When you look into the face of a child, you see the face of God, and from this video, God sure loves Ally. God bless her and everyone who's supporting her.
    Mike S.

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