What is Skip’s Walk? 1285 Miles ~ California to Colorado Courageous man starts a 1285 mile walk from CA to CO less than 9 months after brain surgery to raise money for his family medical bills On April 8, 2007, Richard “Skip” Getz, 45 plans to walk out front door of his Los Gatos, California home and begin a 1285 mile walk to Boulder, Colorado in order to raise money to pay for his family’s medical treatment. Less than nine months after successful brain surgery, Skip will walk over three major mountain ranges and cross the largest desert in America to build a better life for his wife Bonny, 38 and their two sons Galen, 6 and Quinn 4. Galen’s Story Galen was born on January 19, 2001 in Nederland Colorado, a little over a year after Skip and Bonny were married. Complications during his delivery cut off the supply of oxygen to his brain for a period of time, and as a result Galen has Cerebral Palsy—a brain injury that renders him unable to walk or perform many of the simple motor tasks that most take for granted. Galen’s mind works as well or better than most 6 year olds, he is a quick study, has a great memory and a wonderful sense of humor. But he can not write, stand or walk at all and has limited speech capability. Galen also takes daily medication for a CP related seizure disorder. Skip and Bonny embraced their child and his special needs, and committed themselves to doing everything within their power to give Galen the chance for the best life possible. Bonny became a full time Mom devoting herself to caring for her special needs child and welcoming healthy brother Quinn a couple years later. Skip continued his career as a small business owner, handyman and real estate investor. In the summer, 2003 Galen and his family attended a Conductive Education camp in Santa Rosa, CA that specialized in a form of therapy developed by a Hungarian doctor, Dr. Andras Peto. "Galen made more progress in six weeks at the camp than in almost two years of conventional therapy," Skip Getz said. The family realized that this therapy represented the best chance for Galen to develop the language skills and mobility to lead an independent life, and that the sooner he started the better. However, the group insurance policy under which the Getz family was covered would not pay for this therapy and schooling. Despite the fact that this therapy would make it possible for Galen to develop the skills for a productive, independent life, no insurance would pay for even part of the cost. Skip and Bonny never hesitated. They would get Galen this care and pay for it themselves, even if it was going to stretch their finances to the breaking. Since there were no Conductive Education centers in Colorado, the couple decided to move their family to California. In the spring of 2004, the Getz family sold their house, moved to Los Gatos and enrolled Galen in a Conductive Education school in San Jose, called Beginning Steps to Independence Inc. For nearly three years, Galen has been attending school for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, 11 months of the year. The results have been fantastic. Galen has worked so very hard and diligently and as a result he has progressed a tremendous amount. Galen can not walk, but he crawls and scampers after his younger brother and the other children who play in the courtyard of their apartment building. His speech has improved; he can use a tricycle and a special augmentative walking device to get around. With continued therapy, Galen’s teachers and caregivers are confident that in the near future he can be successfully mainstreamed into the public schools. Galen has made progress, but he still will benefit greatly from continued therapy after school, on weekends and breaks. While he still can not walk, there are many promising programs that could potentially have him walking, but they are all very expensive. Skip’s Story Shortly after moving to California, Skip began feeling an ever decreasing level of energy. This was quite uncharacteristic as Skip used to compete - at a high level - in amateur bicycle road races in Colorado. When he realized he was never going to be good enough to make a living in cycling, he took up rock climbing, mountain running and even ran in a few ultra-marathons. Skip wrote off the fatigue to the stress of the move, age, getting his family settled, and Galen starting school. The move from rural Colorado to the Silicon Valley, one of the most expensive areas to live in the country, was proving difficult. While Galen was thriving, Skip’s job skills didn’t match well with the technology driven economy of the bay area. The family was running through their nest egg from the sale of their home in Colorado. As Bonny continued to care for Galen with his special needs as well as his healthy brother Quinn, Skip started a home improvement business. However, Skip was only able to work sporadically, as he was becoming increasingly lethargic and confused. Friends and family from Colorado who visited the family were alarmed at the changes in Skip. After experiencing muscular pain, numbness in his legs and vomiting, he took a trip to the emergency room where after a battery of tests, he learned that he had a brain tumor. Skip’s pituitary gland (a pea size gland at the base of his brain) was surrounded by a lemon size tumor. While non-cancerous without surgery he could expect to experience decreasing levels of vitality, blindness, impotency and eventually die of complications. On August 31, 2006 Skip under went leading edge technology brain surgery performed by Dr. Griffith Harsh at Stanford Hospital to remove the lemon-size tumor surrounding his pituitary gland. While the surgery was a success; Skip has show great improvement in his health, only half of it the tumor could be removed. Because of the damage the tumor had on the pituitary gland, Skip must take expensive hormone replacement therapy for the rest of his life. In the future he will most likely need to undergo months of radiation and more surgeries. Doctors have told Skip that in future it is likely the tumor will continue to grow. Skip needs to have periodic MRIs to monitor the tumor. If the tumor grows he will have to under go radiation treatments and potentially another surgery. 
The Getz Family’s Dilemma After leaving CO the Getz family had no health insurance. Galen was automatically covered under MediCal, which provides universal coverage for all special needs children living in the state. The family still had to pay for Galen therapy and school. To help make ends meet, Skip and Bonny chose not to get private medical insurance for themselves. At the time the tumor was discovered Skip had been less and less able to work, with Bonny taking care of Galen and Quinn, the family was in a dire financial situation. As such they were able to qualify for MediCal, which has paid for all of Skip’s and Galen’s medical bills as well as routine care for Bonny and Quinn. Skip and Bonny are grateful for the support the state of California has given them, but the family is in a horrible bind. Once Skip starts working again and producing an income they will no longer qualify for MediCal, and yet they will be unable to get private insurance for Skip and Galen because of their pre-existing medical conditions. There is no way anyone but the most affluent people could afford to pay the cost of Galen’s anti-seizure medicine, therapy, schooling, orthopedic shoes, doctor’s appointment and possible surgeries as well as Skip’s daily hormone medicine, periodic MRIs, all the lab work, doctors’ appointments, radiation treatments and possible further surgery, without insurance. Any uninsured American who had stroke, a heart attack, a brain tumor, or a major accident would be in the same position; either don’t work and get medical coverage or work and forgo the coverage. The Solution – Skip’s Walk Skip and Bonny are hard working middle class people who are thankful for the support the state of California has given them, but would much rather support their family themselves. That is when they conceived of Skip’s Walk, a 1285 mile walk from Los Gatos to Boulder to raise money for his family’s social independence. The money raised by Skips Walk will go toward paying the family’s current and future medical bills, and help fund the launch of small business venture that, down the road, will enable the Getz family to pay for their medical expenses. Your donations to Skip’s Walk are needed and greatly appreciated. If you would like to contribute to Skip’s Walk, see the “Make a Donation” link for details.
Beginning April 8th, keep track of Skip’s progress each day on his Daily Walk Journal and Walk Photos pages.Daily%20Walk%20Journal.htmlWalk%20Photos%20Day%201%20-%2034.htmlshapeimage_4_link_0shapeimage_4_link_1