Vote for the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation – $1M at stake from Chase Bank

VOTE FOR THE GWENDOLYN STRONG FOUNDATION AND HELP CURE SMA!

Dear friends and family,

My daughter’s best friend, Gwendolyn Strong, is the same age as Reese, and has a terminal illness called Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). Children with SMA lack a gene in their DNA that keeps the motor neurons thriving: Gwendolyn’s body is completely paralyzed, she breathes from a machine, and eats from a tube. Her mind, however, is completely normal, just simply stuck in a body that continues to deteriorate. Reserachers at UC Irvine are VERY close to a cure for SMA, but they need funding to push it towards FDA approval. It’s both exciting and frustrating just how close they are to a cure.

JP Morgan Chase Bank has committed to donating $5 million dollars to non-profit organizations, $1 million of which was already distributed in December. Through a Facebook voting system, the top 100 non-profits were awarded $25,000 in cash. The Gwendolyn Strong Foundation was one of these winners, and 100% of the funds were sent directly to UC Irvine’s SMA research team by the Strong family. Next up is the final round of voting for the grand prize: $1,000,000. The voting is completely done through Facebook, and it starts today: Friday, January 15th, 2010.

This video sums it up: Gwendolyn Strong Video

Imagine that $1,000,000 towards SMA research could actually end this disease. Not “get the ball rolling” on research, not “hope for a cure,” but actually END it. And, most importantly in my eyes, it could save Gwendolyn’s life. The research that is so close to FDA approval is one that could affect babies who already have SMA (like Gwendolyn), and could completely remove them from symptoms. With this funding, its possible that I could see Gwendolyn running around our yard one day with Reese.

Here are some facts:

* Dr. Kierstad (UC Irvine) has dedicated his life to spinal cord injuries. He has already successfully performed a lab experiment on mice that allowed the previously-paralyzed animals to, literally, get up and walk. He is now focusing on SMA research, which is closely related to spinal cord injuries, muscular dystrophies, ALS/Lou Gehrig’s, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. It is his belief that a groundbreaking surgery (so close to FDA approval!) could allow the body to re-build the proteins that are missing in children with SMA. That means Gwendolyn has the potential to be symptom free, forever!
* Money is holding back a cure. Other diseases, such as breast cancer and AIDS, have massive amounts of funding and reserach behind them, but “cures” are still unknown. The “cure” for SMA is just around the corner, but nothing can be done until the funds are there to continue the research.
* SMA is the #1 genetic killer of children under two years of age, and 1 in 40 adults (unknowingly) carry the gene to pass it on.

PLEASE post this link on your Facebook accounts, your blogs, forward it to your email contacts, etc. This is an effort that can only be driven by people voting: the GSF NEEDS EVERY SINGLE VOTE IT CAN GET!

VOTE FOR THE GWENDOLYN STRONG FOUNDATION AND HELP CURE SMA!