Just over a year and a half ago, I wrote about a little girl named Megan with Juvenile Myositis, a rare autoimmune disease that attacks, then can lay in wait for years until ready to attack again.
Dear Friend,
We have more urgency than usual to our annual appeal for donations to Cure JM Foundation, the nonprofit search for better treatments and a cure for juvenile myositis diseases.
Our daughter Megan, who was diagnosed a JM disease in 2002, recently experienced a flare, or relapse. She essentially had been symptom free for the past three years and weaning off medications until then. In the past month, she has resumed treatment with IV medication – to date seven infusions of steroids, one of the refined human blood product IVIG.
You can help Megan and children like her by sponsoring our family in the Seattle Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon on June 25, 2011. Rhonda is running while Kevin and the kids will hand water to runners on race day.
Your donation will help Cure JM continue funding two vital programs that fulfill its mission to one day make sure no child suffers from juvenile myositis diseases ever again:
* medical research centers, which the foundation helped start, at leading hospitals in Chicago and Washington, D.C., that search for the cause and cure for juvenile myositis diseases, and
* online, print and in-person support to educate people about the disease and help families coping with JM’s effects on their children and lives.
You can help by making a tax-deductible donation in one of two ways:
1) Use a credit card online via FirstGiving. Our fundraising page is:
http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/rhondaandkevinmckeever/2011?fge=ask
2) Print and fill out the form on this Google documents site at
http://tinyurl.com/3avtba8, write a check to “Cure JM Foundation” (put in the memo section that you are sponsoring Kevin and Rhonda McKeever), and then mail it to:
Cure JM Foundation
836 Lynwood Drive
Encinitas, CA 92024
Matching gift forms may also be sent to that address or faxed to (760) 230-2243.
On behalf of all children and their families afflicted with JM, especially ours, thank you for your generous support.
The McKeever Family
(Kevin, Rhonda, Megan, Calvin and Murphy, too)
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Many thanks for your support and thoughts. Kevin