On Saturday, October 12, 2019 Leeta announced my return to WoW Challenges, both on the podcast (NSFW) and in a brief blog post. I want to go a little more into the details of what’s changed for me and why I wanted to come back.
First, the sole reason for me departing was due to deteriorating health. My progression is slow and always has been these dips and then plateaus. There is never any getting better, however, research in the causes of ALS has greatly increased by leaps and bounds, so I am optimistic that they will discover something in my lifetime.
Around January 2019 my health had a significant dip: a lot of strength loss (especially in my good arm), a large increase in choking on food/drink, breathing deterioration, among other things I’d rather not detail here for anyone to see. We were not sure how far this was going to go and after it seemed like there would be no plateau this time, I thought the best move was to transition WoW Challenges now instead of letting Carrie do it and hope she interpreted my instructions correctly.
I have no doubt that was the correct decision. The site and community must go on and the decisions made were in the best interests of the future.
Around July-August 2019, just after we announced the change, I’ve found that my health deterioration has plateaued. It wasn’t until September that I felt there had no further deterioration and that I truly had plateaued. So while I won’t be getting better, I feel like I’m stable enough to contribute to the Challenges and the community.
While I was away from the organization, I found my continuing to think of it as “WE” and continually had to correct myself and remind people that I was no longer involved. There are some changes coming soon and a new expansion to worry about; I again found myself concerned about the challenges overall. I had little doubt that Leeta and Ster could steer the ship, however, I wanted to contribute and not sit back on the sidelines. My passion for the community is strong and never went away.
Both Leeta and Ster, thankfully, were in agreement for my return as a third “owner” so we could make decisions together. Returning as a third voice still fulfills my original decision to leave, as if things deteriorate again, I know that nothing is going to as greatly impacted as it could have been before when I was the “sole proprietor”.
I’m happy to be back and hope we can all steer this ship together through some choppy water ahead.