TITLE 1: “Donor Profile”
TITLE 2: “Major Donor Profile: Margaret McMahon”
DATE: Winter 2005
AUTHOR/S: Staff
KEYWORDS:
• RLS Foundation news
ABSTRACT OVERVIEW: An excerpt from our Annual Report featuring Margaret McMahon.
COPY OF ARTICLE:
“We have never had so many people send in so much money in such a
short period of time.”
What do you get when you combine 50,000 loads of laundry, 30,000 diapers, 14 children, 30
grandchildren, 18 great grandchildren, one great great grandchild, 10.5
years of pregnancy, 150 Bundt cake mixes, great macaroni and cheese
and zero complaints?
You get Margaret McMahon.
When Margaret McMahon passed away on July 24, 2004, her 14 children
decided that instead of flowers, they would ask people to send money to a
charity in their mother’s name. Her third youngest son, Jim McMahon
recalled that, “Mom was never one for spending money on flowers when
there were so many needy causes to support.”
Margaret McMahon suffered from restless legs syndrome during a good portion of her latter
years. She was actively involved in a local support group and enjoyed receiving NightWalkers to
get encouragement from others who were also dealing with the syndrome. Her son Matt saw
firsthand how RLS affected his mother. After their father passed away in 1983, Matt moved back
home to help and witnessed the extreme difficulties RLS presented. “She spent many years going
to doctors, and they couldn’t do much to help her. The first couple of years after she got [RLS],
the doctors thought she was imagining her pain. She spent many, many sleepless nights with
RLS. As a child it was very hard seeing your parent suffer like this.”
Another daughter, Maureen Wolf, echoed her brother’s sentiments. “My mother had restless legs
24/7, 365 days a year. She only got relief from walking, which she did every day.”
According to Margaret’s oldest daughter, Peg Gygra, “Since Mom suffered on a daily basis from
this, giving money to the Foundation would be what Mom would have wanted. Her feelings
would be with research. Maybe others might get the benefit of a cure. She said she hoped none of
us ever had to suffer with the daily persistence of restless legs.”
Together the siblings decided that it would be a great idea to ask that friends and family make
donations to the RLS Foundation in her memory.
And make donations is exactly what people did.
Between July 29th and September 30th, the Foundation received $3,979.00 in the name of
Margaret McMahon from close to 75 different individuals. RLS Foundation Member Services
Coordinator Marilyn Vangsness said that, “We have never had so many people send in so much
money in such a short period of time.”
So who was this woman whose impact on those around her compelled so many people to send
money in her name to the Foundation?
Margaret McMahon was the type of woman who wanted nothing for herself. Each Christmas the
kids would ask her for gift ideas. The only thing she would ever say was “peace and quiet.”
She was the type of woman who never complained. Even when she was knee-deep in thousands
of loads of laundry (many of them washed with a hand operated ringer on top) or surrounded by
all those diapers, Margaret never said a negative word. According to her daughter Peg, even with
all her pain, “she rarely complained. Only if you persisted in asking her how she was really
feeling would she then tell you how she wished there was a cure [for RLS].”
Margaret was also famous for her ability to stretch a dollar. When she found a sale on bundt
cakes on her son John’s military base, she decided to buy 150 of them. “If you visited the house
it looked like a Bundt cake factory. They were everywhere, in the basement, in the pantry and
even in the laundry room,” her youngest son Paul said during his mother’s eulogy. When John
returned from his military duty in Spain three years later, she made dessert after dinner. “You
can all probably guess, she baked a Bundt cake! I hope my mother-in-law now realizes why I
still won’t eat a Bundt cake.’
And she was selfless. Whenever one of her daughters had a baby, Margaret would go and spend
weeks helping them. This is especially extreme when one considers that when her oldest
daughter Peggy had her first baby, Margaret still had 11 of her own children at home. Her son
Michael also commented on his mother’s giving nature. “When I injured my neck and had to
wear a therapeutic collar, she moved in and took care of me. I will never forget that.”
She was the type of woman who did not play favorites. In the last weeks of her life she could still
be heard in her hospital bed telling her kids that she had “fourteen favorites.”
Margaret McMahon was helpful. Paul went on to say that his mom, “didn’t always limit her trips
to the specific thing you asked her to help with. If she came over for more than a day or two, you
could pretty much count on her to do all of the laundry, clean out the refrigerator, organize your
cabinets, make you dinner every night and leave behind a couple of dishes of macaroni.”
And it was these traits, along with many more, that led so many people to send money in her
name to the Restless Legs Syndrome Foundation. “She truly was an incredibly selfless person,
and I am sure that I can say we all miss her dearly,” Paul said. “She will be missed but never
forgotten.”
Memorials are a great way to honor a loved one and support the Foundation in its mission to
improve the lives of those with RLS. If you would like more information about setting up a
memorial fund, please give us a call at 507-287-6465. You can also request our new publication
Giving Avenues, which describes various options for donations.