The Beginning of Dody's Dream

My brother Jimmy was born with a birth defect with his knee cap on the side of one leg rather than in the front. My parents could not afford the operations he needed, so Jimmy was the recipient of an Easter Seal's grant. They paid the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for children to perform the surgeries.

Every summer, for 16 years, my family would travel from San Angelo, TX to Dallas to take Jimmy to the hospital for the next generation in a series of 22 surgeries. You could never imagine the pain of watching my mother cry herself to sleep every night so many miles away with no phone and no connection. One should never have to experience the pain a mother suffers at being forced to leave a sick baby in the hands of those who are strangers to both child and mother. The journey home was always devastating. It never got easier. That and the weight of being so poor that a hotel room was out of the question was more than any parent should have to bear.

Jimmy spent all of his summers of youth in that hospital so that he would not miss any school. Being left alone for up to two weeks at a time was a memory ingrained in my 4 year old mind, because it was I who did not know how to comfort my mother's broken heart, and we all know that this is all any little girl wants to do is to make mommy smile or be happy. We can never get used to seeing our mothers cry. Jimmy was 7 years old when his surgeries began and I was that 4 year old little girl crying with my mother each time we had to make the drive home. Even at the end of the 16-year period Jimmy's leg still did not grow like it should have, so they had to shorten his good leg too.

Jimmy would have been 6'6", but he is a disabled 6'0" man who does walk, and does enjoy life to it's fullest potential. The one thing that we learned as family is when someone in a family unit is disabled, then the whole family is disabled and everybody suffers. I want no other family to go through what my family suffered.

The ultimate goal is to award $1 million monthly to charities. As we work together, we can continue our goal and vision of giving from the heart, to financially assist those in need. A dollar every month from every member goes to the foundation to help raise that $1 million a month.

Awards

• St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
  1996 Distinguished Service Award
  Memphis, TN
• Texas Department of Human Services
  2000 Tarrant County Outstanding Business Volunteer Service Award
  Arlington, TX
• The Arlington Women's Shelter
  2001 Foundation Award
  Arlington, TX
• Texas Department of Human Services
  2003 Lifetime Volunteer Achievement Award Presented to Lana Couch and USA+
  Grand Prairie, TX
• Women's Business Support Network
  2003 Dody Wood - Woman of the Year
  Houston, TX