Hope

GUESS WHAT?!

A cure for Nicholas and other babies with SMA is right around the corner...literally, like 2010, around the corner! Can you believe it?! We've been praying and hoping for several months now (some families have been praying and hoping for several years) and now in this wonderful age of medical technology we're so close!

But...

We need your help.

(adapted from a post by gwendolynstrong.com)You may not know that there is a promising stem cell treatment program being funded by Families of SMA and headed up by Dr. Hans Keirstead at UC Irvine in California. This therapy, perfected by Dr. Keirstead and his team, has the potential to cure SMA, ALS/Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and acute spinal cord injuries characterized by motor neuron loss. This program has been in process for over five years and Dr. Keirstead and his team have completed all of the pre-clinical efficacy studies, including the pivotal animal safety studies, demonstrating that the cells work and that they appear to be safe. This is very positive and this program, the SMA stem cell program, has the real potential to become the second FDA approved stem cell trial in humans -- the second ever! Phase I of those human clinical trials could potentially start in the next several months.

What many of you may not know is that this promising stem cell treatment program, led by one of the leading stem cell researchers in the world, may never actually happen because of funding. Yes, funding. How much? Only $500,000. We may all never know the true potential of this research because of a measly $500,000. This groundbreaking science is ready. The researchers are prepared. They just need money. So how can we hope for this research and not make sure it reaches the finish line? Without funding, this hope, this potential, this chance at a cure will get pushed and pushed and well... that means thousands more families are impacted by this cruel disease and thousands more innocent babies will leave us too soon. Given all that we have faced and are facing because of SMA, raising money is simple. As a community, we can make this trial happen!

Jeff and I have committed to raising $5,000 in the next 3 months to support this funding. This is the most important $5,000 we may ever raise in our whole life. This money has hope written all over it. It has love written all over it. It has the potential to save Nicholas. It is not easy to ask others for money, just the opposite is true. It is difficult. Why does Nicholas deserve your hard-earned money? Why is this cause more important than any other cause? My answer is that our son emits grace, love, and hope from every single pore in his body. He deserves a shot at life. When a child is diagnosed with a terminal illness, when my child was diagnosed with a terminal illness my heart changed forever. There is no amount too big or too small that could potentially help save Nicholas's life.

We. need. your. help.


If you would like to make a donation in Nicholas's name, you can click on this link: http://UniteForTheCure.com/Donate/ It explains all the directions for donating via credit card and by check. To make a donation via credit card you will go to this page and then click on the green donate button, which will then take you to the Families of SMA donation page specifically set up for Unite For The Cure. Please remember to write "Gustafson Family" in the "Message" section, so that we can keep track of our goal. For checks, please make checks payable to “Families of SMA” and be sure to write “Unite For The Cure/Gustafson” in the MEMO on the check, so that this donation goes specifically to the Unite For The Cure campaign and to our overall goal. You can mail checks to:

Unite For The Cure
c/o Gwendolyn Strong Foundation
27 W. Anapamu Street, #177
Santa Barbara, California 93101

We are also planning bulk mailings (email & snail mail), a garage sale fundraiser, a restaurant fundraiser, and a bowling fundraiser in the next 3 months...if you have any ideas for fundarsiers, or would like to help with one, please let us know.

Please consider a donation. It may just save our child's life.