Update on SMA

January 21, 2010
Many of you may remember Nicholas Gustafson,  my friend Jessica’s little boy who has SMA.
I started out taking Jessica’s belly photos, and have been taking Nicholas’s photos for almost the past two years. We had a photography fund raiser on behalf of Nicholas to raise money for Unite for the Cure.
Your giving was awesome.
But you can do more and it only takes a few seconds and doesn’t cost you a dime.
If you have a Facebook account and have not heard yet, Chase Bank is giving a considerable chunk of money to 5 charities.
And the users of FB get to decide who the lucky 5 charities are.
The Gwendolyn Strong Foundation is advocating for Unite for the Cure, to cure SMA.
They are currently in 6th position.
They need to make it to 5th.
Please got to http://voteforsma.com/ to cast your vote to help SMA…there’s only 3 days left so they need all the support they can get.
It only takes a minute and it’s completely free.
If you don’t have a facebook account, sign up for one and if you don’t want to keep it, simply delete it at the end of the week – simple as that.
Please  consider helping out this foundation. Please help us try and save Nicholas and the other babies and children that have this disease.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your time.
SMA — Spinal Muscular Atrophy — KILLS more BABIES than any other inherited disease. Babies with SMA are born healthy and their minds are never impacted by the disease. But eventually their bodies FAIL them. Within months of an SMA diagnosis, these vibrant, intelligent children fall PARALYZED and need machines to help them EAT, COUGH, SWALLOW, and BREATHE. 50% DIE before their 1st birthday, 90% by their 2nd. 1 in 40 people UNKNOWINGLY carries the SMA gene. That could be YOU. That could be YOUR child. There is NO treatment and NO cure, but there is HOPE! The National Institutes of Health — the NIH — has coined SMA the disease “CLOSEST to TREATMENT”. Leading researchers have stressed that a CURE is POSSIBLE — IF provided adequate funding. And SMA research is already BENEFITING research into DOZENS of OTHER diseases. This $1 Million WILL have a MATERIAL IMPACT on CURING this CRUEL INFANT KILLER…FOREVER. Be part of a MIRACLE. VOTE: Gwendolyn Strong Foundation.
{email me} {portrait site} {wedding site} {facebook}

Jessica posted the following on January 21, 2010 at 2:19 am.

THANK YOU Jenifer! We need all the votes we can get…the 1 million dollar prize could help cure SMA forever and our little Nicholas will be able to run, jump, and play like all the other little kids we know. We love you for posting this for us!

charmaine posted the following on January 28, 2010 at 4:36 am.

Yeah. $100K to the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation.


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