Dear Blog Friends,
I usually don't post about much more than knitting or my silly iPhone photos, but today I am going to ask a favor. It doesn't involve money, just a couple minutes of your time.
One of my best friends, Sarah, has a 2 year old daughter whose little friend, Gwendolyn, has a terminal illness, Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). I didn't know anything about this disease until I learned about it from Sarah, but it is the number one genetic killer of infants and 1 in 40 people carry the gene. Children with SMA lack a protein in their DNA that keeps their motor neurons thriving; their minds are never affected, but they slowly become paralyzed and have to rely on machines to breathe and tubes to eat. Most children with SMA die before their 2nd birthdays. Luckily, researchers are quite close to a cure -- but they are low on funding.
Gwendolyn's parents have set up a foundation in her name and have worked tirelessly to raise both awareness of SMA and money towards the research that is close to finding a cure. The Gwendolyn Strong Foundation was recently voted one of the top 100 non-profits in the Chase Community Giving program and is now in 6th place in the running for a $1 million prize. This is money that could make a real difference.
Voting is done via Facebook and will be open for 6 more days -- if you have a moment and feel so inclined, please think about logging on and voting for the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation. You can get directly to their page on Facebook by navigating to www.voteforsma.com - once you've logged in, click on "Vote for Charity" to vote for them.
And for more information, see www.gwendolynstrong.com.
Thank you all so much for reading,
Hilary
12 comments:
Done - Hope it helps!
What a heartbreaking story. I hope the top ten get at least some funding from this.
Thank you, Hil! Every vote counts!
And readers, you can post this same information on your blogs...spread the word!
-Sarah
done! thanks for bringing this to attention.
Done - thanks for drawing our attention to this!
done and posted to my wall so hopefully my friends will do it too.
done and posted to my wall so hopefully my friends will do it too.
I just found your blog via Knitty and couldn't leave without letting you know that I placed a vote and that your patterns rock!
Thanks for posting this - hope the vote helps!
How tragic. I hope this will bring awareness to the disease and comfort to the parents knowing so many care.
I went through a very sad point in my life a few years ago and found the book "When Bad Things Happen to Good People" helpful. I often recommend it.
Unbearably sad! I too hope my vote makes a difference.
okay.... i think i got my vote in... just in time...
prayers to little gwendolyn....
Post a Comment