The gal she was emailing had the entire proclamation ready to be printed, just needed to be signed by the Governor. Could this be just that easy? If you know me, things never go this easy!
Apparently Gov Bullock gets too many procs, so all he will do is a Letter of Support. Uggg, okay, fine, at least we still have some sort of awareness and 'support' from the State of Montana. By the way the initial effort to get all 50 States was initiated by the wonderful Melissa Vanhouten. Yes a different Melissa, but still an amazing person!
I was told that the letter would be ready for support week of Aug 13th and a copy could be mailed as well as emailed. Wonderful! On July 17th I re-emailed to keep it fresh in their mind of the pending deadline and all things were a go.
By Aug 14th nothing had come in the mail or email, so I contacted the office again to find the person she'd been working with was on maternity leave. Of course! A couple days go by when an email comes in from another person jumping in mid-stream. Apologizes were made as my request got 'lost' in the shuffle. Yep, I bet! However, they'd be working on it asap.
Aug 18th a copy of the Support Letter from MT Gov Bullock comes in an email, omg, it's here, it's here! I read the first paragraph just as it was in the proclamation I'd given them (Ms. Vanhouten original work). The second paragraph goes off the rails saying "But with proper treatment and dietary changes, the symptoms of Gastroparesis can be minimized and even become nonexistent. Say whaaaaaat?! Is this a JOKE?? I emailed back asking such, making the stated fact that those with a severed vagus nerve typically require a feeding tube, there is no treatment option for a non-existent stomach paralysis.
The poor guy that got stuck on this 'case' was very sorry. I had asked since time was of the essence if he could just cut that part out before mailing it. Rather he asked for the original proc wording I had sent the other gal (which I thought he'd had since he quoted it in the first paragraph). So I sent it for him to re-do.
By Aug 21st ( no longer awareness week) we are now onto him sending a new draft that was close enough to the proc's wording. FINALLY something to be PROUD OF!
Then the sad part? EVERY YEAR this has to be done! So it's my plan to have this copy ready to send out in June and all they have to do is change the date, re-stamp the signature and mail it. Easier said than done right? Since that's what I though when I first asked this of the MT State Governor's office!
In the meantime, I'm happy for this small recognition for the Gastroparesis Community and apparently educating a couple in that office!!
If you want to join the fight for next year in your State, please message me and I can put you in contact with Melissa Vanhouten. We need as many people as we can in ALL STATES!