Why?

Well, the sun has finally decided to shine down. Yay!! The girls and I were out at the local wading pool this afternoon and were swimming at a friends' pool yesterday. We have plans to be out swimming yet again tomorrow before packing up the big blue van and heading out to Calgary. We are looking forward to spending time with family and friends and spending some time as a family up in the mountains.

My quiet moments have been filled with thoughts of October 3rd. I just want to say thank you to all of you that have already contacted me asking how to help. Right now, the push is on for prizes. We have the letters finished and some of them have now been sent out. If you would like a copy of the letter for your company please contact me and I will do my best to get it out to you as soon as possible. Thank you to Tanya. Tanya is a photographer and she has come up with a fabulous idea for a prize. Let's just say that it has something to do with lilies. September 3rd will be the date to assemble all of the volunteers. Please come prepared to sign up on a committee and to share any ideas that you may have.

With Bill and Victoria Strong's permission I have copied and pasted some of their last post to remind all of you why Georgia's Journey of Hope is important.

"The SMA program is currently at a critical and exciting juncture. All of the pre-clinical efficacy studies, including the pivotal animal safety studies, have been completed, demonstrating that the cells work and that the motor neuron replacement should be a safe strategy in the treatment of diseases, such as SMA, characterized by motor neuron loss. Dr. Keirstead and his team are now preparing for a pre-IND meeting with the FDA in Q3-2009 with a targeted Phase I clinical trial in humans to begin in early 2010. Phase I will initially focus on babies with SMA Type I, Gwendolyn's Type, with other Types planned for later phases of the study.

Families of SMA and others have invested over $1.5 Million in the program over the past 5 years. While California Stem Cell will be responsible for most of the funding through the clinical trial process, the program needs an additional ~$500,000 as a bridge to that phase for staffing and studies to support the requirements leading into that critical Phase I clinical trial in early 2010. This research is unbelievably promising and could truly change the future for SMA and countless other diseases.

If you or anyone you know is interested in helping see this promising research make it swiftly to and through clinical trial or if you know any foundations that focus on this type of groundbreaking medical research please contact," the Strongs http://www.gwendolynstrong.com/

Please note that we have stated that Georgia's Journey of Hope will be a fundraiser for FSMAC which means that it will more than likely stay in Canada but it doesn't matter where the cure is found. Let's just help them find it!! FSMAC uses 95% of it's donations towards research.

Love to you all,

Kristen