Upcoming Event: Annual Hawaiian Luau & Duck Pluck

 

 

Dear Chapter Friend,

           

It’s been a busy year for Huntington’s disease research. The HDSA Coalition for the Cure is hard at work discovering new information about HD that will eventually lead to a treatment or a cure…  That's how my research appeal letter usually starts when I write to you each summer asking for an annual donation for HDSA research. But this year, things have changed.

 

Donations to HDSA from families and individuals is down sharply; therefore, funding for HDSA's Coalition for the Cure, that elite group of 16 prestigious and decades-long devoted HD researchers, had their funding reduced for this year.

 

For some of us, if we cannot donate $100, then we think that $20 wouldn't help at all.

 

I have a story to share with you about the impact that many small donations can have on a disease: Do you remember the March of Dimes campaign to stop polio? I do. When I was a child, my mother--a busy mother of seven--volunteered to walk in the evenings to collect donations. Neighbors turned their porch lights on to signal that they had a donation for polio research. Millions of dollars was raised by collecting dimes.

 

It took a lot of research, then human trials, before a vaccine was available to the public. Today, the polio vaccine is just one of many on the long list of childhood vaccines. The story behind finding that vaccine and the Mothers March of Dimes is mostly forgotten. Recently I rented the PBS video: The Polio Crusade. There are many comparisons to our fight against HD.

 

My hope is that we'll see the same victory that the polio crusaders achieved. And just like my mother, I am hoping to collect a small donation from every single one of you to help resume full funding to HDSA's Coalition researchers.

 

Let’s do the math:  2,000 families on our chapter's mailing list x $20 each=$40,000. That's four times what our chapter collected last year in research donations.

 

Our chapter just received a matching gift from a generous local donor; all donations up to $2,500 will be matched. So your donation will be DOUBLED! Your $20 donation will become $40; your $50 donation will become $100, and your $200 donation will become $400.

 

Here are three easy ways to give:

·      Mail your donation using the enclosed envelope

·      Donate online at:  http://www.hdsanortherncalifornia.org/

·      Phone Penny to make a credit card donation over the phone: 916-927-4400

 

Please act today, so we can fund the research that is needed to find the cure!

 

                          With gratitude,           

                          Judy Roberson

                          President, HDSA Northern California Chapter

 

Research at the HDSA Center of Excellence at UC Davis Medical Center

Listing of enrolling studies for 2010

 

Research Study at Stanford University

Investigating the emotional experience of Huntington's Disease. For more information.

 

Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease
University of California, San Francisco
RESEARCH STUDY ANNOUNCEMENT

 

NEW HD CLINIC AT STANFORD MEDICAL CENTER

 

 The Department of Neuroscience at Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto has announced the establishment of a comprehensive Huntington’s Disease Clinic.  It will be held on the second and fourth Fridays of each month from 9 AM to 1 PM at the Neurology Clinic located in the main hospital building at 300 Pasteur Drive.  To arrange an appointment, call 650 725 5792.

 

The clinic will be staffed by neurologist, Dr. Pravin Khemani, neurological nurse, Megan Moore, a social worker and a genetic counselor.  A neuropsychologist is available within the department and referrals can be made to other specialties such as Psychiatry and Physical Therapy.

 

HDSA is delighted to welcome the prestigious Stanford Medical Center into its family of comprehensive HD clinics.

Thank you to our Sponsors