Trav's Thoughts

Jerry Lewis is 84 years old and he makes me a little nervous. He's wobbly on his feet and he gets out of breath just speaking, let alone trying to make it through the MDA telethon theme song, Smile. He's been the driving force of a 59 year battle to raise funds for patient care and medical research to find cures for over 40 neuromuscular diseases that fall under the umbrella called Muscular Dystrophy.

I'm afraid he won't make it to that day when a cure is found. He was so scattered during the bits of the telethon I was able to watch. It was a little painful to watch.

The cure is so close. Scientists have identified so many genes that have led to clinical trials and then to actual therapies that have slowed the degenerative progression of many of these diseases.

There's still a long way to go. But there continues to be hope.

This little girl raised over $5000 for MDA by reading books. She read 35 books, each of more than 100 pages. Her name is Abbey Umali and she is the 2009 MDA National Goodwill Ambassador. She's 9 years old and this is her second year in the role.

Abbey is from Redlands CA and has Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, in the form of congenital hypomyelinating neuropathy. It attacks her coordination and balance, and causes muscle weakness.

She's a bright-eyed little girl with a quick sense of humor. She wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up.

And when Jerry asked her at the end of the telethon if she would be the goodwill ambassador for a third year, she said yes and said it's the best job in the world. The child isn't a victim, she's an advocate...she's her own advocate and an advocate for others afflicted with these diseases.

I miss Ed McMahon. I miss his voice introducing the corporate sponsors. I miss his banter with Jerry. I miss his call for a timpani to roll the national tote board. What I saw of the show seemed disjointed without his presence.

It bugs me that I don't get to watch the whole telethon anymore. But, I can't fault the networks I guess. They certainly make more money with the advertising on reruns and sporting events and major Sunday movie events. Spider-Man 2 was on my FOX network Sunday night. And all those paid advertising segments had to run in the wee hours of Monday morning. That's important stuff.

**sigh**

Here's what we miss when we only get a shortened version of the annual telethon. We miss the information about research. We miss the annual progress report. That's the critical result. That's the pay off to your pledge. These positive results in discovering possible treatments are the goal, and they are developing rapidly due to the money raised throughout the year by MDA. That's what we get from the telethon, and that's what helps to raise more money.

The telethon is still bringing in the donations to continue to fund comprehensive patient care, promote advocacy and education, and to fund critical research to find treatments and cures for the over 40 neuromuscular diseases that MDA fights. And I would love to watch the whole show like I used to be able to do. It's really the last great vaudeville show.

I have done volunteer work for this excellent organization. And I send my money every year, always $1 more than last 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.

I have said this before. Americans can be cynical. Americans can be self-righteous. Americans can be loud, obnoxious, and stubborn.

Americans are also generous.

This year, in this economy, Americans contributed $60,481,231. Last year's total was over $65m, so although he failed to get his $1 more, I'd say Jerry had a successful telethon nonetheless. And I want to thank everyone who reached down and found a few dollars to donate.

The International Association of Fire Fighters collected $28.5m, mainly from their Fill the Boot campaigns.

Other corporate sponsers such as Safeway ($10.2m), Citgo Petroleum ($11.0m), Harley Davidson ($4.5m), and others added millions more. All of that money goes to make sure that the research continues, and that comprehensive health care provides whatever is necessary to improve the quality of life for MDA patients and their families.

Jerry Lewis has championed this cause for 59 years, 44 years on television with the annual Labor Day telethon. The first telethon in 1966 raised $1 million. To date, Jerry has raised more than $2 billion from private donations.

Please give till it helps.