LETTERS: FAMILY GRATEFUL FOR MDA DONATIONS

To the editor:

We received this letter from one of our patients in regard to the annual Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon:

Once again another Labor Day has come and gone, and so has another telethon. Like many years before, the telethon was a huge success. There was something different this year. For the first time ever in the history of the telethon, the word "cure" was mentioned. "Cure," a simple four-letter word, to some doesn't mean a thing. To others, like my family, it means someday our son may walk again.

Each year, families like ours ask you to donate money to help our children. Without hesitation you always give. For years you have given, and I am sure some of you wondered if it ever would do any good. Thanks to your generosity and millions of other people like you, the Muscular Dystrophy Association has announced it has the approval of the FDA for human trials with a process called gene therapy. This process has cured muscular dystrophy in lab tests. Yes, cured. It many not come this year or even next, but it will come, thanks to you.

If you know someone who has been a supporter of the MDA, the next time you see him, please let him know that he has made a difference. If you've never been a supporter, please start now. More than ever we need your help, and we need it now, please. We are very close to a cure, but it can't happen without you. The more funding we have, the faster the cure will come. The faster the cure comes, the more lives you will have saved. So please help families like mine before it's too late.

On behalf of the millions of people who are served by the MDA and, of course, my family, I would like to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are actually making dreams become a reality. We couldn't have done it without you. God bless you. -- William Sr. and Sonya Thorne, Perryville.

LORI DOBBS, Program Services Coordinator

Muscular Dystrophy Association

Cape Girardeau