People help MDA because MDA helps people
Posted: Tuesday, September 02, 2008 by Travis Cody in
Americans can be cynical. Americans can be self-righteous. Americans can be loud, obnoxious, stubborn.
Americans are also generous.
Firefighters collected over $27.5 million for MDA this year.
Corporate sponsors from Safeway ($9.7m) to Harley Davidson (over $6m) to Citgo ($11.8m) and many others raised millions more. This money funds the ongoing research that has provided so many breakthroughs in gene identification and now gene therapies and other drugs to come ever closer to cures for muscular dystrophies.
This is how clincial research is about to become clinical drug therapy trials for a possible treatment and potential cure for ALS, or Lou Gherig's disease, which is one of the most insidious and debilitating of all muscular dystrophies, and has always been fatal within a matter of a few short years of diagnosis.
This is also how a small clinical trial has progressed to a larger, global trial of a treatment and potential cure for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which attacks young boys and generally claims their lives by their early 20s.
And private citizens called in over $65 million in pledges to help fight the 40 neuromuscular diseases. This money funds patient care. It provides wheel chairs and braces, and it sends kids to MDA camps. This money means hope.
I have done volunteer work for this excellent organization. And I send my money every year. If you haven't already done so, I encourage you to send a few dollars. You can donate throughout the year by going to the MDA website.
Jerry Lewis has championed this cause for 58 years, 43 years on television with the telethon. The first Labor Day telethon in 1966 raised $1 million.
Please give till it helps.
Update: I managed to get ahead in my certificate program this weekend. YAY me! I'm going back to bury my head again. See ya soon!
As I mentioned once in my blog, I have a friend that is literally in the final stages of ALS. The fight has only been about 18 months long. Sept. 27 there will be a walk for ALS and his friends/team have already committed over $6000 to the cause. The local chapter is giving us our own tent, because there are so many of us on his team. I am hoping we top $10,000 just on his behalf. Thank you for your post.