A Brief History
Hello, everyone, I am Dr. Zar from the YouTube channel History and Headlines! Today, I would like to bring to your attention a fundraiser on behalf of one of my friends and colleagues, historian Daniel N. Gullotta of Ashland University. At just five days old, Daniel’s son, Colby Jackson (aka “Jack”) was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).
Digging Deeper
Per the official fundraiser, this disease, which affects one in 11,000 births in the United States, robs people of their physical strength, significantly impacting an individual’s ability to walk, swallow, or breathe. Given Jack’s type of SMA, without treatment, he would not have the ability to walk and would have faced countless other challenges, but fortunately thanks to Cure SMA and the research programs they fund, along with countless medical professionals, Jack and others with SMA now have amazing treatments to help them maintain their strength. Nevertheless, there is not a cure yet, which is why so many keep fighting for one!
Cure SMA has directly helped Jack by funding research for the two SMA treatments he has received, sent his family a medical binder with loads of information, sent Jack a newborn care package of accessible toys and comfort items, sent his parents a free LifeVac anti-choking device, advocated for Jack with a health insurance company to get him treated, connected his parents to a mentor family, offered support via phone and email, and offered a scholarship to the annual conference, which his parents will accept when Jack is older. The fundraiser’s goal is to raise $1,000, which funds one week of an SMA research project. That could be one week of a project that leads to a cure for Jack and/or dramatically improves the lives of many people.
Please support Cure SMA by making a tax-deductible gift. They have made a positive difference in the lives of so many people with SMA, including Jack, and your donation will make you part of that wonderful legacy. Thank you for your kindness!
Question for students (and subscribers): Have you ever known anyone with SMA? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
Please visit https://walk-curesma.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=9811 for more information about this fundraiser.
The featured image in this article is a screenshot of the fundraiser’s webpage and is used by History and Headlines with permission of Jack’s parents to help raise awareness of the fundraiser.
You can also watch a video version of this article on YouTube.
