Hydrocephalus awareness month, Phoenix Hydrocephalus Walk and Great Pumpkin Race (in Tucson)

I haven't posted in a month and a half, and I'm probably be going to write a little less frequently again. I have some backlogging done and a list of topics I'll like to research and write about in the near future. I'm not gonna be posting the backlogs yet because I want to go back and rewrite because I'm confident that I can make them better. When it comes to writing and rewriting posts I've started putting it off again because I don't want to rush through posts, and have them lack in quality. I also want to keep my mind on other things instead of Hydrocephalus, which includes losing the desire to write about. I'm going to try to start another blog about other things that interest me so writing about Hydrocephalus wouldn't be a buzzkill.

I've still been keeping up with my blog stats, so I still know which posts are frequently the most popular and which keywords people are finding my blog by. So I'm going to talk a little bit about each of the 3 main topics that people have been searching for and only finding older posts.

The first is Hydrocephalus awareness month which is the month of September. I usually post a lot this month on my personal Facebook but I've only posted anything Hydrocephalus related at all this year because of the same reason that I haven't been writing. There's several Hydrocephalus foundations that are doing some pretty cool things this month mostly via their social media pages. I'll leave links for a few of them below so you can check out what they're doing or if you need help from them.

There's many Hydrocephalus Association walks each year but I only post about the one in Phoenix because it's the one closest to me, and usually the one that I attend every year. In previous years it's be held at the Phoenix Zoo and last year it was held at Steele Indian School Park. This year it's going to be at Freestone Park in Gilbert on October 24th. If you're like me and you have to take public transportation to get there, there's about a one mile walk (it might be a little shorter) between the closest bus stop and the park. From what I can tell by Google Maps there's a sidewalk that goes all the way from the bus stop to the park.

The closest hotels are along Superstition Freeway and about 4 or 5 miles away. From what I'm able to find there's not really any hotels on the nearby bus routes but there are some over near the Superstition springs center in Mesa. There's a transit center at the mall that has a bus take will drop you off close to the park. There's also buses that stop at that transit center that will take you to and from the Mesa Greyhound station, one that will connect you to the Light rail and a express bus that will take you to Downtown Phoenix. There's a handful of hotels to pick from in that area with plenty of restaurants, grocery stores and a mall. There's plenty of hotels to pick from on the Superstition highway with restaurants spread out and there's a couple clusters in the same area that has several restaurants in one shopping center.

The Great Pumpkin Race has been held in Tucson every year since 2006, and this year it's going to be October 11th at Buckelew Farm, I found out about it after I connected with the organizer Thomas Tronsdal on Facebook after seeing a post he had made on a Phoenix Hydrocephalus Walk page. I had been speaking to other people with Hydrocephalus in other States and even other Countries but he was the first from the same city. In previous The Great Pumpkin Race has benefited the UMC Neurological department and the Hydrocephalus Association but this year it will benefit The Arizona Center for Autism.

The Great Pumpkin Race is held at Buckelew Farm which is West of Tucson on Ajo Highway. so public transportation isn't a option. Breakfast is usually included at the race and there's other food and drink that can be bought at the Farm. There's a fun kids race before the 5k, and a free pumpkin comes is included in registration.

There's a few restaurants close by on Ajo Highway between the farm and getting back into town. If you're coming from out of town and need to somewhere the night before there's no hotels that I can find in the area but there are many that you can choose from in Tucson.

Below are links to both events and their Facebook pages.

Phoenix Hydrocephalus Walk

Great Pumpkin Race Facebook event page

Phoenix Hydrocephalus Walk Facebook page

Great Pumpkin Race

Below are links for some notable Hydrocephalus foundations that have things going on this month,


Hydrocephalus Association Website

HA Facebook

HA Twitter

HA Instagram

HA Google+

HA Youtube

Pediatric Hydrocephalus Foundation Website

PHF Facebook

National Hydrocephalus Foundation

NHF Facebook page

Hydro Angels Over America

HAOA Facebook Page

HAOA Twitter

Phoenix Hydrocephalus walk 2014/ Great Pumpkin Race 2014

I haven't written any posts in about 6 weeks because I went out of state for a couple weeks for the wedding of one of my closest friends. I missed the first post for August because it was a few days before I left and I was busy getting ready and I missed the second because I was in Iowa and it would have been really difficult to write a blog post with my phone. I've been keeping track of my statistics and I've noticed that there has been a couple people looking for information on the Hydrocephalus walk in Phoenix next month (I live a couple hours away in Tucson). I'm also going to include another Hydrocephalus (neurology in general) related event the weekend following the Hydrocephalus walk in Tucson.

There has been at least a Hydrocephalus walks in Phoenix before but it's been a couple years since the last one and all the previous ones were at the Phoenix Zoo. This year it's going to be at the Steele Indian School Park at Central and Indian School Park (300 east Indian School Road). I've never lived in the area and except for family reunions I've only been there a handful of times so I decided to check out the area online and figure out where I'll be staying and how to get there. The Steele Indian School Park is at the location where the Indian School in Phoenix was for many decades and if you don't drive or want another option other than driving the Metro Valley Light Rail has a stop right at Indian School and Central. The walk is October 4th and registration starts at 8:30am with the walk starting at 10am.

The Great Pumpkin race is going to be in the Tucson area on October 12th. It's a 5k at Buckelew Farms that raises money for the Hydrocephalus Association too. The person that puts the race together each year is Thomas Tronsdal who has a son with Hydrocephalus. The race starts at 8am with a kids race at 7:30am. Buckelew Farms is outside of Tucson at 17000 West Ajo Highway.

The links below provides information for registration for both events. Also for information about the Valley Metro Light Rail. There's no public transportation that will get you to the Buckelew Farms area and there is no hotels/motels really close that I know of but there are many on the connecting interstates that's close by (I-10 and I-19). I used different colors for the link so there would be less confusion about which links are for which events. The Phoenix Hydrocephalus walk is in red, Great Pumpkin race is in blue and the Valley Metro light rail information is in purple. Thanks for reading.



 http://hawalk.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=1098504

https://www.facebook.com/Phoenix.Arizona.Hydrocephalus.Association.WALK

https://twitter.com/phoenixhawalk

 http://www.azroadrunners.org/races/detail/pumpkin

 https://www.facebook.com/events/820005214699988/

 http://www.valleymetro.org/metrolightrail

 http://raillife.com/2009/07/phoenix-light-rail-map/

Phoenix Hydrocephalus walk/Great Pumpkin Race

I was going to talk about these two events soon after they happened, but I was taking a break from writing when I attended both of them. This past November I participated in the Phoenix Hydrocephalus Walk for the second time. Also in October I participated in a local event in Tucson, the Great Pumpkin Race.

The Phoenix Hydrocephalus walk is one of many charity walks for Hydrocephalus that the Hydrocephalus Association puts together each year. Each walk is put together by volunteers who live in the area. I’m unsure of how much was raised all together in 2012 from the walks. But the Phoenix Walk alone raised 28k this year, over 10k than the year before. Like the year before, it was one of the first times I’ve been part of something where there were many people around with Hydrocephalus and I’m still getting used to hearing the word “Hydrocephalus” spoken outside of close family and doctors, even when it’s brought up when I’m with friends or coworkers. This year I had the opportunity to meet a “Facebook friend” and her family. She has two kids (twins) that both have Hydrocephalus.

The second event I attended was The Great Pumpkin Race. It’s an annual 5k race/walk that’s put on near Tucson at Bucklew Farm. It’s an event that has been held each year since 2006. It’s put together by another “Facebook friend” that I met for the first time in person during the event, Thomas Tronsdal.  His son has Hydrocephalus, and the money raised during the event goes to University of Arizona Medical Center’s Department of Surgery and Neurology. The race goes through the farm fields and ends in the corn maze. This year like with Hydrocephalus Walk, was a big success with over 700 people attending.

If you or a loved one has Hydrocephalus has it, and you live near a larger city in the United States, then I encourage you to participate in a Hydrocephalus Walk, Support Group or whatever is involved in your area. You don’t have to necessarily raise money, but it’s a great opportunity to do so. Just by meeting others with the same condition it will give you a whole different perspective on living with Hydrocephalus and going through what you have to. Thanks for reading :)

The first link is for the Hydrocephalus association where you can find events behind held near your area, and get more information about current studies, general information, and more.

http://www.hydroassoc.org/

The second link is for the Phoenix Hydrocephalus Walk.

http://walk4hydro.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=1018971

The third link is for the Great Pumpkin Race.

http://www.azroadrunners.org/races/detail/pumpkin

The fourth link is for The Arizona chapter of The Pediatric Hydrocephalus Foundation. It’s new so there’s no other link I could find for it other than it’s Facebook page. The Chapter Director is yet another person that I’ve met on Facebook, but it’s someone that I haven’t met in person, at least not yet.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Arizona-Pediatric-Hydrocephalus-Foundation-Inc/410820155649236