Walk to Fight Against Lyme Disease

EVENT DETAILS:

Saturday, November 7th, 2009

Shoreline Park, Mountain View, California

Distance - 2k/4k

Registration begins at 10am, walk begins at 11am

Family Fun Event - kids and strollers welcome! (sorry, no pets allowed at Shoreline)

See www.mylymemission.com for more information

Hope to see you there!!

 

Dear Family and Friends,

On Saturday, November 7 my family, friends and I will be joining Turn the Corner Foundation to Create Footprints™ in the fight Against Lyme Disease at Shoreline Park in Mountain View, CA.   This walkathon will raise much-needed funds for the support of research, education, awareness and innovative treatments for Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases.

As you may know, I have a very personal connection with this cause.   I have been ill with lyme disease for over twenty years, but was not correctly diagnosed until two years ago.  The years that were wasted while I desperately searched for the cause of my health problems, going undiagnosed and misdiagnosed for so long, turned what should have been a relatively straightforward disease to treat into a late-stage, chronic illness, which is proving to be incredibly difficult to get under control, and has affected my life and the life of my family immeasurably.  It has been a very difficult road for me, but finally having answers for my health problems, and a path to treatment has been both a huge relief, and the start of a new journey for me, still very difficult, but one that gives me hope of eventually regaining my health.  I want to do whatever I can to make sure that no-one else has to suffer for years without diagnosis and treatment, and to help get the word out about this misunderstood disease. 

Lyme disease is a debilitating illness, and can affect so many different body systems, causing neurologic issues, cardiac problems, joint pain and muscle weakness, cognitive difficulty, vision problems, and many other symptoms.  Because it affects people so differently, it can be very hard to diagnose, which is compounded by the fact that the current tests available miss nearly half of all lyme cases.   Lyme is commonly misdiagnosed as other illnesses, including MS, fibromyalgia, CFS, ALS, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and a host of others, and is a growing problem across the US and here in California.  Funds for innovative research to develop accurate testing, and more effective treatments, as well as physician training, and raising public awareness are desperately needed.

We have organized this walkathon in order to help fund much needed research programs in the fight against Lyme disease through Turn The Corner Foundation – please check out their website at http://www.turnthecorner.org to learn more about the grants and initiatives that they are funding.  It is our hope that participating in this walkathon will help put an end to the pain and suffering that this disease inflicts upon millions of people.

To accomplish my goal of raising as much money as possible for this very worthy cause, I am asking each of you to join our team, start a team of your own, or donate to the cause.

You can help!

1.  Make a generous contribution in support of Turn The Corner Foundation – you can easily donate online at http://www.firstgiving.com/kcs or alternately you can send a check made out to Turn The Corner Foundation to me at P.O. Box 421, Los Gatos, CA 95031-0421. Any amount is welcome and very much appreciated.  Turn The Corner Foundation is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity, so your donation is tax deductible.  Many employers have matching programs where you can double your donation, so it is worth checking to see if your employer offers that.

 
 

2.  Come walk and be an active participant of our team – Team Squishy!   You can register online at  http://www.firstgiving.com/createfootprintsttc and you will be given the option to set up a fundraising page to collect money from folks you know, and then join us for a fun day at the walkathon.  Or start your own team and recruit your family, friends and coworkers to walk with you. 

3.  You can join our cheering section by attending the walkathon, but not actually walking.

4.  Lastly, please forward this e-mail on to your friends, family, and co-workers, and encourage them to participate as well.

I greatly appreciate your consideration and support of this worthy cause, I am looking forward to having as many people as possible join us for this fun family event.  Even if you can't join us at the walkathon, we appreciate any and all donations made to our team as part of our overall fundraising.  If you have any questions about the walkathon, please feel free to e-mail me at k@squishymatter.com, and there are more specifics about the walkathon available at http://www.mylymemission.com.    Thank you so much for your generous support of Team Squishy and Turn The Corner Foundation.

Very truly yours,

Karen Carlo Salinger