This years effort...

Hey Everyone!

Well it was another hugely successful year! Overall our 38 donors raised $5,409 total, with $3,378 going to the American Cancer Society and $2,030 going to the Alzheimer's Association! This was based on my total charity miles of 5,456! This is the most money we have ever raised in the 3 years of doing this! That brings us to this year...

This past November, Betsy joined me for a conference in New Orleans, where we met up with a good buddy of mine, Steve Kogos and his girlfriend Elizabeth, for lunch. It was at this time that he told me about the struggle of Mary Payton Vigil (picture below), the 5 year old daughter of his friend Joe. In January of 2008, Mary Payton was diagnosed with Late Infantile Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis (LINCL) also known as Batten's Disease. This is a genetic metabolic disorder causing her to be deficient in a specific enzyme. This deficiency causes her to suffer from mental impairment, seizures and a progressive loss of sight and motor skills. To this date, no child has survived, with most succumbing to its effects between the ages of 8 and 12.

There is some hope! There is a number of experimental procedures, such as gene replacement therapy, that have shown some promise in halting the progression of the disease. Mary Payton underwent one of these treatments in China this past summer and has shown some signs of slowing the progression. Through her father's tireless efforts, Mary Payton, along with 4 other children afflicted with this disease, was then accepted for the gene replacement therapy treatment, an experimental procedure, which holds some progress for stopping the progression of this disease!!! However, the difficult thing is that these five families need to collectively come up with about $4 Million dollars to attempt this procedure.

This caused Joe, Mary Payton's father to form the Mary Payton's Miracle Foundation, which is designed to raise money for the Batten Disease Support & Research Association, which provides funds to the families of those afflicted with this terrible disease for the above mentioned experimental procedures, also financial support to families for disease related costs, such as wheelchairs, medical supplies and missed work and travel, as well as funding the many research efforts that are ongoing, such as the gene replacement therapy mentioned above. This is a 501(3)(c) charity, so all donations are fully tax deductible.

Therefore, this year I think we all have a wonderful opportunity to see our collective assistance have an immediate impact on the lives of families in the fight of their life. As a new parent, I can't even contemplate watching my young child struggling in a fight for his/her life. That is the struggle Joe and his wife Nikki are currently fighting, this fight is the fight that Mary Payton is fighting every day. Hopefully you will join me this year and support me in Riding for a Cause!

Again, if you would like to sponsor me, just reply to this email and let me know whether you would like to sponsor me so much per mile, to challenge me to earn your donation or if you would prefer to make a flat donation. In the case of the former, you can also set a maximum limit to make sure I don't (as my buddy Phil at work said) 'ride you into the poorhouse'! This year I intend to put in another 5000 charity miles, including finishing a marathon, a century ride and a couple triathlons. This year, if you are making a flat donation, you can decide if you would like to submit it immediately, sometime during the year or at the end of the year; whatever works best for you.

Thank you again for all your continued support. This program has only been successful because of the support all of you have provided. As always, if you would like to participate, but you would prefer to support another charity closer to your heart, just let me know and we can make arrangements for that as well.

Sincerely,

Josh Caldwell