For almost three years, I’ve used my column to complain about a lot of things, but there is often nothing you or I can do to change them. Today is different. You can make a difference simply by logging on to Facebook and voting to fund research to end the No. 1 genetic killer of infants.
Spinal muscular atrophy is a disease which results in severe muscle weakness and problems with swallowing, breathing and moving limbs. The severity of the disease varies. Some people with this disease, like me, live into adulthood, but those with the most severe form often die before age two. There is no treatment or cure for SMA. The best anyone can do now is handle the symptoms.
You can help find treatments and a cure by voting for the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation, a nonprofit organization which raises funds for research into SMA treatment, in Chase Community Giving on Facebook. Go to
VoteForSMA.com to cast one of your five votes for this nonprofit. If you have Twitter, you can also go to VoteForACure.com. Voting ends tonight at midnight.
The winning charity of the contest will receive $1 million from Chase. The five runners-up will receive $100,000. As of Thursday morning, the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation was in sixth.
You can vote for five different charities. Out of the 100 participating charities, this organization has one of the widest impacts, since researchers are on the brink of finding potential treatments and a cure for SMA.
When I was a child, I used to pray for a cure, but I stopped saying those prayers long ago in light of the fact there seemed to be no hope in ever finding significant treatments. In the past few years, I have learned treatments could be available in the next 5 to 10 years. There are already experimental treatments out there.
SMA is caused by an abnormal or missing motor neuron gene which causes degeneration of motor neurons in the brain stem and spinal cord and prevents the production of a protein necessary for muscle strength.
The genes which cause the disease have been identified, and the National Institute of Health says research in SMA is closest of all 300 neurological disorders to finding treatments or a cure. Furthermore, the model of research being used to find a cure for SMA will carry over to 40 other diseases, including Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Sandhoff’s.
I have seen too many of my friends with severe SMA and Duchenne muscular dystrophy fall gravely ill and even die. The infants and toddlers I have met who have the severest form of SMA are alive because of the love, dedication and sheer will of themselves and their parents. Finding a cure is not only about making life better for those of us weakened by SMA, but it is also about solving matters of life and death.
It takes millions of dollars a year to fund research. Voting for the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation is easy and may not seem like much, but no good deed goes unrewarded.
Matt Watson is a graduate student majoring in Spanish. He can be contacted at [email protected].