Are you on Facebook?

If you are, we need your help!

Right now on Facebook is the final round voting for the Chase Community Giving campaign - it runs through January 22. The Gwendolyn Strong Foundation is a charity started by good friends of our friends the Blabeys. The Strongs' daughter - Gwendolyn - has SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy).

- SMA kills more young children than ANY other inherited disease -- 50% die by their 1st birthday, 90% by their 2nd.
- 1 in 40 people unkowingly carries the SMA gene -- few have any known family history.
- SMA is degenerative and terminal. Although born healthy, babies eventually lose the ability to walk, sit, eat, breathe, and even swallow. The mind is never impacted and children with SMA are bright and social.
- There is currently NO treatment and NO cure, but there is HOPE!
- The National Institutes of Health (NIH) coined SMA as the disease "CLOSEST to TREATMENT".
- Researchers say a CURE is possible in a few years -- IF given adequate funding.
- SMA is considered a "model" disease and many scientist believe it is a "gateway" to answers for countless other diseases, including: ALS/Lou Gehrig's, spinal cord injury, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, the muscular dystrophies, and even some forms of cancer.

There is a very real chance that a cure for this disease can be found, and the Strongs need our help!! If the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation wins the Chase Community Giving campaign, they wil receive $1 MILLION to donate to SMA research. This is HUGE!

How can you help??? If you are on Facebook YOU CAN VOTE!

- Go to VoteForSMA.com -- This will take you to the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation Chase campaign site on Facebook. This is where you vote. Click on the "Vote For Charity" button to vote.

- You must have a Facebook account to vote. If you don't have a Facebook account you can easily sign up for one by going to VoteForSMA.com and following the simple Facebook signup instructions.

- You may only vote for Gwendolyn Strong Foundation once, but GO NUTS! telling anyone and everyone you know to go to VoteForSMA.com to vote for the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation. Change your Facebook status to let them know about voting for the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation. Spread the word to all you know to help this incredibly deserving charity win! If you have your own blog, please copy and paste this entry to help spread the word even further!

Finally, please learn more about the Strongs, their foundation, and their beautiful daughter Gwendolyn by checking out their blog:
http://www.gwendolynstrong.com/


Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!