Gary and Victoria | Generosity Story

MS, it's a lot of times, it's not that bad. I just happen to have the kind that's paralyzing and real bad and quadriplegic so I needed Vicky more than I knew.

We dated for four years. Got married in 1971. We had our daughter in 1972 and that's when we started noticing MS symptoms.

Yeah, I never would've known, when we got married how important Vicky would be to me. It continues to be that way.

He's a really, really neat guy. I'm glad to have him.

Probably five years ago, that Vicky, she just screamed out with pain.

And I put him in bed and I went to push his bed and my back snapped and I mean, it hurt, it hurt a lot.

They ran some tests on her, did some blood work and they came back and they told Vicky that she had cancer.

I've known Gary for probably 40 years at least. We both worked down at Procter and Gamble.

I haven't seen Rudy for a few years once I went on disability and quit working.

Then after that, low and behold, we met at Westside. Didn't have a clue that we were going to the same church and it just kind of evolved from that.

I had no idea how much help that he would be giving us. He comes up on Sunday morning. Rudy's an early riser. Gets me dressed. We've got a lift, he gets me out of bed. Throws me in my wheelchair and we got to church.

So that's how it started. I just started coming up and trying to take some of the load off of Vicky because she was trying to you know, chemo kicks your butt.

So the church sent people over with food and they'd come every other night. So Rudy and Cathy were in the rotation.

And without really being in a life group and having those connections, I don't know what I would've done without them. I mean, they were just the sweetest group of people and how we all intertwined and got so close because of our illnesses and stuff like that. If I hurt, they hurt and if I needed something, they were right there to do it. And we were really blessed. We had the neatest group.

She has just laid her life down to be there for Gary. Made so many sacrifices for him and she's always upbeat about it. She has never complained. I have never heard her complain. I've been up here when she was so sick, she couldn't hold her head up and she would get up and go and take care of Gary.

Vicky had been dealing with this for 30, 40 years. So what I've done is nothing compared to what she has done and what a lot of other people have done also.

I have no idea what it would be like without Vick. Actually I don't know that I've even thought about that much.

He's my best friend. He's funny. He's an irritation. He's been a great dad to our kids. He's a really good husband to me. If I had this to do all over again, I'd do it. I can't imagine being married to anybody else. God's just always been right there taking care of us. So it's been a good life. People think I'm crazy when I say that, but it has, it really has.