Benefit for Dan Hacker set for April 4
By Doreen Tyler, Staff writer
Published: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 1:23 PM CDT


THE DAN AND Lynn Hacker family of Sleepy Eye will host a benefit for Dan on April 4 at the Springfield Community Center to raise money for the purchase of a handicap accessible van and upgrades to the home. Dan suffers from ALS, a neuro-muscular disease he was diagnosed with in October 2007. To see more photos from this issue, go to www.sleepyeyenews.com and click the blue button.


A carnival. A festival. A fun-filled county fair.

This is the kind of atmosphere the Dan Hacker family is planning for Dan’s benefit event on Saturday, April 4. On that day, the family is hoping to raise $22,000 to purchase a handicap accessible van and to help make his bathroom handicap accessible too.

“It’s a safety issue,” Lynn Hacker said. “He needs the van. Our bathroom is so small. Taking a shower is very scary for him. We need to make the change so he can be safe.


“The big thing is safety.“

In October 2007, Dan was diagnosed with ALS, Lou Gehrig Disease, a neuro-muscular disease that gradually paralyzes a person, robbing him of movement, speech and swallowing while leaving their mental and sensory functions intact. There is no known cause for ALS and there is no cure.

Despite that reality, Dan is moving forward with his daily life, adjusting to the changes in his body’s ability to function.



In Dan’s case, the muscular degeneration began in his lower body and that, Dan and Lynn say, is a good sign. “It means the disease is progressing slowly,” Lynn said. “That’s a good thing.”

Medications to control the disease have also helped Dan deal with ALS symptoms like thick saliva that he could choke on, the muscular degeneration and the symptom of “emotional lability” - an inability to control emotion.

Living with ALS and providing daily care can feel overwhelming at times. Each day is different and some days better than others. But what do the Hackers believe? “We believe every day is a blessing,” Lynn said.



“The little things are important now. Dan being able to get up every day and get dressed is a blessing.”

Mobility continues to be an issue but the Hackers see this as just another challenge. “I’m getting some control of him now,” Lynn said laughing. “Dan has a good sense of humor, a little strange and warped sometimes, but we do laugh about a lot of things.”

Like the time when Dan was outside on his scooter trying to move some leaves by the garage. “I watched him go around and around and around before his scooter fell over,” Lynn said. “I ran to him, scared, but there he laid laughing so hard about it.”



While he is still able, Dan maintains an active role around the farm.

At the Hacker home, a ramp has been constructed that will eventually lead around the whole house so Dan can access the gardens and feeders.

Indoors, he uses a motorized wheelchair and a walker. Outside the scooter gets Dan around the yard and into the greenhouse where the Hackers run the business they have owned for many years.



The couple’s daughter, Heather, has moved back to help with the family business, Hacker’s Tree Farm Nursery and Greenhouse. “We are trying to extract as much information from Dan as I can to get things done,” Lynn said.

“There are those things I?always left for Dan and now we have to learn how to do them ourselves.”

Lynn said the family business is a positive force in Dan’s life. She explained that so many with ALS worked for others and when they are unable to be employed, they often have nothing to keep them busy. “Each day Dan can get up and go outside and tell us what to do to get the season up and running,” Lynn said. “It’s another blessing to have the business at our home.”



When Dan was first diagnosed, his goal was to live to see each of his three children married. By the end of 2008, Dan had achieved that goal.

“Then my goal was to see my grandchildren born,”?Dan said. The Hackers’ third and fourth grandchildren are due this summer. “After that my goal is to see them graduate and get married themselves.”

Dan becomes very emotional when asked how their Christian faith has enabled them to deal with this struggle. “The Lord, for some reason, has given this to us,”?Lynn said.



“Dan prays all the time. Our faith is our inner strength because there is nothing we can do to change (the situation),” Lynn said.

“You play the cards you’re dealt,” Dan said.

“And the Lord has given us an interesting set to play,” Lynn added.



For that reason, the Hackers have decided that Dan’s benefit will carry the theme, “Celebration of Life.”

The event will take place at the Springfield Community Center on April 4. For more information about the benefit, contact Heather Hacker Hammer at (651) 214-8534.

Dan and Lynn said they have received many donations for the silent auction and have plans to play games like Milk the Sow (not a real sow). “So far, we have been given over 100 items for the silent auction,” Dan said. “People have been so generous.”


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