The Muscular Dystrophy Association....Make A Muscle, Make A Difference!
Since its creation in 1950, the Muscular Dystrophy Association has grown to become the world's largest non-governmental sponsor of neuromuscular disease research. MDA has also developed and expanded patient care and information services through those decades.
MDA works throughout the year seeking answers to the causes of over 40 neuromuscular diseases, developing and testing treatments, operating over 200 MDA Clinics along with 38 ALS Centers, improving the quality of life for patients as well as providing services for dystrophic children, young adults and their families. These services include support groups, information resources, online communities and MDA Summer Camp.
It's the support through donations from you that makes sure the work and services of the Muscular Dystrophy Association continues. When you make a donation of any amount to MDA you're telling the medical researchers that their ideas will become realities, the physicians that they'll have the tools and knowledge they need to treat their patients as well as the children and families MDA serves that they're not facing this nightmare challenge alone.
As you read and listen to the information featured here, you'll learn just how many important discoveries
and advances are occuring thanks to people like you. The decades of wondering and seeking have become a present day full of discovery and the realization that the answers long sought for are starting to be found. Theories have become tests which have become treatment trials. Your support of the Muscular Dystrophy Association is more vital today than ever before.
Click on the links below for more information about MDA's research programs, fundraising activities, patient programs and more. Your support is the only thing that makes all of this possible and brings the hope of a healthy future for those afflicted with neuromuscular disease.
What Your Donation Makes Possible
Click Here to make your donation to MDA right now.
When you hear about the large donations made by the firefighters and corporations
and start to wonder what kind of difference you can make, take a look....
$30 Flu Shot
$74 One minute of research
$100 One support group session
$150 One physical, occupational or respiratory therapy consultation
$300 Professional fees related to initial diagnostic work-up at an MDA clinic
$500 Assists one person for one year with the repair of a wheelchair or leg braces
$800 Sends one child to MDA summer camp
MDA Research
The more than 300 research projects funded and overseen by the Muscular Dystrophy Association total over $40 million per year. After decades of exploration these worldwide efforts are resulting in tests and human trials of revolutionary treatments for the more than 40 neuromuscular diseases addressed by MDA. This research is also focused on quality of life treatments for children and youths afflicted with neuromuscular diseases. A diagnosis of one of these diseases once meant that a child may not survive their teen years. Today, thanks to the discoveries and developments your donation makes possible, patients are surviving into adulthood building families, careers and maintaining hope for even stronger treatments.
MDA medical scientists and researchers have been at the forefront of the development and refinement of gene repair, gene therapy, exon skipping as well as new means of pharmaceutical-based treatments for neuromuscular
diseases. A great deal of this research has provided medical experts and scientists outside MDA with valuable insight and information too. The Muscular Dystophy Association invests $74 per minute in research. Your donation of any amount to MDA will give the scientists and researchers the security and knowledge they need that their important work will be able to continue. Your contribution also provides opportunity for medical experts with new theories and ideas to approach MDA knowing that if what they have is a true new discovery that they'll be provided the funds needed to explore and develop it.
You can read the latest MDA research news on the left side of this page. Click here to learn about the over 40 neuromuscular diseases MDA is seeking treatments and cures for. Once you read about the advances that have been made and the rate they're occuring, we hope you'll make a donation in any amount to MDA.
MDA Telethon
The MDA Labor Day Telethon has been recognized as one of the most successful humanitarian efforts ever created. Since 1954 this annual event has raised over $2.3 billion. While entertainment has always been the main attraction of the MDA Labor Day Telethon, the program also allows the viewer to learn about the lives of children and families living and having to deal every day with neuromuscular disease. The latest news of medical breakthroughs and discoveries are also shared during the show.
The MDA Telethon began with the efforts of Jerry Lewis and his then partner Dean Martin in the days when television was still in the growing stages, just as the Muscular Dystrophy Association was. At that time Martin & Lewis were among the leading film box office attractions and their television appearances on shows like The Colgate Comedy Hour attracted millions of viewers. After the team went their separate ways, Jerry Lewis continued with the MDA telethons. The now traditional Labor Day edition of the telethon started in 1966 with one station in NYC (WNEW-TV) and raised just over $1 million. Today the MDA Labor Day Telethon is the most important fundraising platform for the organization that in 2011 brought in $61.5 million in pledges. Additional efforts by the firefighters and corporate sponsors added more than $50 million to that total.
Just as it has throughout its long history, the MDA Labor Day Telethon today continues the mission of presenting top entertainers combined with the stories of the children and young adults afflicted with Muscular Dystrophy along with news about the latest medical advances. Hosts Nigel Lythgoe, Nancy O'Dell, Alison Sweeney, Jann Carl, National Goodwill Ambassador Abbey Umali in tandem with the local hosts at the more than 160 affiliates that present the show work to bring you the heart, spirit and reality that the families dealing with Muscular Dystrophy every day are facing. It's hoped that their goals, wishes, dreams and needs will compel you to "Make A Muscle And Make A Difference" by making a donation during the MDA Labor Day Telethon.
The MDA Labor Day Telethon will be seen on Sunday during this Labor Day weekend from 6 p.m. to midnight in all time zones. The telethon can also be watched online at the MDA website. Whichever way you choose to watch, no matter where you are, your pledge and donation once again will be the star of the show.
Click Here for a special tribute to Jerry Lewis.
MDA Summer Camp
The Muscular Dystrophy Association hosts over 85 Summer Camps across America each year. This one week becomes one of the most special times of the year for the children who attend. They meet new people, make lasting friendships and show support for each other through the many activities that the camp offers. Kids get to enjoy softball, swimming, crafts, talent shows, music and a whole lot more. It's an experience that teaches these great kids that the limitations others may try to place on them don't have to be so. MDA Summer Camp becomes a unique confidence builder for these children, instilling valuable lessons within them that they'll always carry with them.
MDA Summer Camp also provides the family and caregivers for these children a week where they can rest and refresh themselves. They can also be confident that their children are in great hands. There's a 1:1 camper to camp counselor ratio. The bond between the kids and their counselors also become a positive product of the camp experience.
The Muscular Dystrophy Association makes this, just like their many other services, free to these families. It costs MDA $800 per child to make certain that campers will have all that they want and may need when it comes to activities as well as their health and safety. Your donation to the Muscular Dystrophy Association is what makes this week that these kids never forget possible.
MDA MuscleWalk
MDA's MuscleWalk brings people, communities and businesses together to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association in a way that quickly becomes a fun day and one big party. For anyone who said they wish they could help or wanted to volunteer to assist MDA but didn't think they had the time, MDA MuscleWalk has a participating and volunteer opportunity for everyone!
People in cities and towns across America have become a part of their local MDA MuscleWalk event. They form teams, join a team, volunteer to help organize or simply show up with a donation and to enjoy the experience. Events that have included music performances, games, local celebrities and more have numbered in the hundreds and have raised $20,000, $50,000, $100,000, $400,000 and even more!
MDA MuscleWalk participants walk in support of family members, friends or because they just want to help others. The events take place indoors and outdoors and every moment is a celebration combined with the emotion of knowing that you're walking in support of those who want to.
Click here to find the next MDA MuscleWalk near you. It's one of the easiest ways to help so many people.
Talking With The People Of MDA
I've had the honor of spending some time with many great people who have played a huge role in the many successes of MDA. Here are some of those conversations.
Dr. Valerie Cwik
Dr. John Bach
Maureen McGovernJeni Stepanek
Alison SweeneyBrenda Blackmon
The Muscular Dystrophy Association is a very special group of people who are the definition of givers. They give of their time, their hopes, their drive and their determination to do whatever they can so one day children won't die. Become a part of this group of givers by donating whatever amount you can. Click Here to make a donation using MDA's secure online system.
MDA Research News
