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Jeremy was diagnosed with ALS in 2017 and is the President and Founder of Smile Inside, Inc.  Having served 8 years in the US Army, as a social worker for Veterans Affairs, and as a child welfare worker, Jeremy has dedicated his life to the service of others.  Jeremy is currently a social work PhD student at Walden University and was recently honored as a 2019 Pat Tillman Scholar.  He is a husband and father to six children and resides in Corvallis, Oregon.   

Bio coming soon

While I know it’s important to provide professional information, it’s essential to me to give my story behind my passion to join this board. So first and foremost, let me introduce my husband, Dave. We were married in 1987 and opened our business, a pet care facility, in 1989. Along the road of life we had three beautiful children, grew the business to become the largest pet care facility in the state, and went on every adventure we could find. Dave taught me how to create memories, run our business with integrity, raise our children with a love of life and dedication to God. In May of 2015 he was diagnosed with ALS, we had recently sold our business and were thoroughly enjoying retirement. Dave and I were a team that felt we could conquer anything. We threw ourselves into researching any treatment or potential cure. We attended symposiums, visited labs, talked to experts. Supported our local chapter of ALS. Dave was a veteran and at our VA hospital we created “themed” clinic days. Like “talk like a pirate day”, “beach party day”, “Christmas celebration” we incorporated ALS into our lives rather than live a life of ALS. In January of 2019, Dave contracted a case of aspiration pneumonia, 3 days later, he was gone. I was devastated, the person who I spent 24 hours a day/7 days a week was suddenly and unexpectedly gone. This beast not only takes little things every day, it takes your life; sometimes out of nowhere when you least expect it. So for this reason, I personally want to see an end to ALS. I also, want to help fellow families who battle this beast and possibly help them in a way they didn’t realize they needed. Smile Inside is just the kind of organization that will do that! I have a Bachelor of Science Degree in Marketing and Accounting from Indiana University and completed the CRLI ambassador research training in St. Louis, MO. I built and ran a large pet care facility for 23 years and was an ALS caregiver to my husband Dave for 3.5 years. 

Bio coming soon

Bio coming soon

  Michael received his Master’s degree in Public Administration from Villanova University, and is currently working towards his Doctorate of Education at Liberty University.  His community outreach includes serving as the Kaiserslautern Military Community School Advisory Board Chairman (Germany), City Planning Commissioner (Fayetteville, North Carolina), and as a Red Cross Disaster Services Government Liaison (Fayetteville, North Carolina).  He currently lives with his wife and two children outside of Ramstein, Germany.  

 Leah Darling is from Indianapolis, Indiana and has worked as a Clinical Social Worker for the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center since 2006. Leah graduated from the Indiana University School of Social Work in 2005 with a Bachelors in Social Work and in 2006 with a Masters in Social Work. Leah currently works at the Indianapolis VA ALS Clinic and was instrumental in establishing their ALS Interdisciplinary Clinic. Leah specializes in the care of Veterans living with ALS and serves as the Clinic Coordinator and Social Worker for the Interdisciplinary Clinic, serving Veterans in Indiana and surrounding states. She is honored to serve the ALS Community and believes in the power of collaborative communities, our capacity for strength and resilience through adversity, and the value of hope. Leah is an advocate for the ALS Community and excited to be invited to serve on the Smile Inside Inc. Board of Directors.  

Bio coming soon