FULLERTON - Marilyn Hobbs knows what it's like to be defenseless.
Bound to a wheelchair with the slow debilitating effects of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), the former nursing director at St. Jude Medical Center was recently by herself in a shopping area when she realized if a threatening situation occurred, she wouldn't be able to run.
She wouldn't be able to fight back.
She wouldn't be able to yell for help.
But she could encourage other women to learn about safety and awareness. At the same time, those women could help the ALS Association, Orange County Chapter fund a full-time nurse case manager for the Patient Services Program that serves 176 ALS patients and their families in the area.
Hobbs' liaison to safety and awareness is former Fullerton Police Chief Pat McKinley, author of the book "She Bear: Empowerment & Safety for Women."
McKinley, who has conducted dozens of safety seminars in the past years, will - for the first time - charge admission with all funds directed to ALS.
The "She Bear Seminar" will be held at 9:30-11:30 a.m. on Oct. 3 at St. Jude Medical Center with a continental breakfast and parking included in the $25 cost of the ticket. To register, call 714-285-1088, ext. 221.
McKinley, who racked up more than 40 years in law enforcement, says one in four women will be a victim of sexual assault in her lifetime. He's on a personal mission to change those statistics.
During his lectures, he outlines ways to outsmart a potential attacker.
Hobbs trusts McKinley's opinions. Indeed, she and McKinley's wife, Barbara, have been friends since attending Pomona Catholic High School 50 years ago. The two went to nursing school, and worked together at Queen of Angels Hospital in Los Angeles.
Little did the McKinleys realize that four years after Hobbs and her family moved to Fullerton, Pat McKinley would be hired police chief in the same city.
The women spent hours together, shopping until they dropped. They played tennis, swam and walked around Fullerton. Their families vacationed on Balboa Island, and they shared life's ups and downs.
The "big down" came in 2007 when Hobbs was diagnosed with ALS. The first symptom, she said, was weakness in the foot that eventually crept up the leg, then the trunk and then into her vocal cords.
Barbara McKinley's eyes welled with tears when she recalled "the way it was."
Hobbs is dependent on caregivers to help navigate the house. And she's fortunate to have the ALS Association's loan of a microphone so guests can hear her speak. The association also lent an easy chair and breathing machine.
"One man even gave me an expensive ramp after his wife died," Hobbs, 67, said.
She acknowledges the support from "my angels" at St. Jude, her four children and grandchildren.
"The goal for this seminar is to raise $8,000," said Pat McKinley, adding: "and to empower women."
article courtesy of Orange County Register
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