Sunday, May 30, 2010

Juliana's Story

Kristy is a good childhood friend of mine from El Paso. In fact, her mom babysat me and my sisters after school for several years (no, this is NOT the scary lady that used to lock us outside!), and I have nothing but fond memories of their home, their family, and all of the fun we used to have. A couple of years ago, Kristy and I found each other again through the power of the blogosphere.

Kristy and her husband Roger have two gorgeous daughters, Juliana and Olivia. Even though I have never gotten to meet them, I can tell from the pictures, the stories, and the videos that they are extraordinary girls. Juliana is vivacious, loves to laugh, and has the sparkliest brown eyes that you will ever see. She also happens to have Rett Syndrome, a degenerative neurological disorder that affects about 8,000 girls every year. Rett Syndrome can rob these girls of their ability to walk, talk, and perform tasks that we take for granted every single day.

Although Juliana has been dealt a hand that no child should have to endure, she is also a very lucky girl. That's because her parents are tireless advocates on her behalf and are involved in a very inspiring and profound way with an organization called Girl Power 2 Cure, which works tirelessly to educate, inform, and fund raise--all in the name of finding a cure for Rett Syndrome. See, that's the crazy thing-this could be the first neurological disease actually cured! Advances in stem cell research are very promising and real results are within reach.

Do me a favor and watch the video on Kristy's blog about Juliana and their family. Juliana deserves a chance to live a life free of this debilitating disease. Donate if you can, and if not, just tell someone about it. Knowledge is power.

1 comment:

Kristy said...

Thank you SOOO much Janet! Could not have said it better myself. Thank you for joining our cause and officially becoming Juliana's Dream Team California Edition. Would love for you to meet her sometime. We will also be uploading the video to You Tube so stay tuned.