The Green Bean Company

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

As many of you know, our Father, Kirk, was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), or Lou Gehrig’s disease, last summer. This neuromuscular disease affects the nerves that control the muscles.

For each person the disease progresses differently. With Kirk it began in his throat with his vocal cords being affected and his speech slurred. It has progressed to the point where his speech is unintelligible and he cannot chew food. He is on a liquid diet, but finds it hard to ingest the necessary calories per day that he needs to maintain his weight.

Needless to say this is quite challenging and frustrating for both of us.

Kirk has been receiving treatments in Chelation, IV Vitamins, acupuncture and other non-western medical treatments that have increased both his quality of life and ability to interact with all of us.  Even though he is well insured, traditional medical insurance does not cover the costs of these treatments.  As a result, Magot and I are asking for donations to be made to the Zirion Family on The Green Bean Company's web site as a way of paying for these expenses as well as covering family costs including visitation and continued research.

You can donate any amount you wish and this money will go directly to his treatments and family expenses during this difficult time.  If you would like to donate, simply click the 'Add to Cart' Button and Checkout.  You can place any amount of donation by editing the price once in the shopping cart.

A Little Background...

Kirk Zirion has been an avid cyclist and outdoors man since he was growing up in the Sierra foothills. He became very interested in cycling when he bought his first 10-speed almost 39 years ago. The day he bought it, he rode home in blue jeans over 40 miles with a 3,500 elevation gain.

This was the beginning of a hard-core relationship with cycling.

Kirk enjoys backpacking, camping, hiking and all sports. He is a private pilot, has hang-glided, para sailed, and even piloted experimental aircraft.

When his daughters were small, Kirk would take them to the babysitters or preschool on the bicycle, and he attached a trailer for them to ride on the long family tandem rides around SLO County. He was even featured in the local newspaper with Anita and Tina in a homemade cart pulled by his bicycle.

Kirk and Pam (pictured above) currently live in San Luis Obispo, California. Kirk is now retired and Pam works as a school teacher at Hawthorne Elementary.

Diagnosed with ALS Summer 2007, Kirk still is able to ride a recumbent tandem as often as weather permits. The rides are not as long and the standard bicycle is gathering dust, but he still manages to cycle a bit.

Please also take a moment and sign up for an account with us. We will place you on our newsletter list and send you updated information as new events are added. We will also let everyone know whenever we change something on the site.

In July, the ALS Association of the Greater Bay Area is sponsoring a bike ride beginning in Avila. We are planning to ride our bikes the 25 miles of the ride. It is a fully supported ride and we have created a “Team Kirk” site, which explains about Kirk, ALS and also the ride. We are asking for donations that will go toward research to find the cause and hopefully the cure of this awful, debilitating disease. If you would like to join us on the ride, help with family expenses or wish to simply find out more, go to www.teamkirk.org.

We are having tee-shirts made up for Team Kirk so that everyone involved can be easily identified at our functions. We will be selling them here and all proceeds go to support our involvement in finding a cure for ALS.

If you have any questions, please let us know at admin@teamkirk.orgadmin@teamkirk.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and we will get right back to you.