WebKittyn Warbles
Monday, September 03, 2007
The 2007 MDA Telethon
ALS scares the shit out of me.
I've been watching the MDA telethon since it started tonight, I think I've cried a dozen times. Every year I do this. Every year I watch this and I'm reminded about the important stuff in life.
Sidenote: They just had Terry Fator on. He rocked America's Got Talent and I was so happy he won.
I've always said before I die I want to genuinely touch the lives of 10 people. Jerry Lewis has touched so so many. Jerry Lewis has always been an idol of mine, a personal hero and the critics be damned - he remains so.
I've had debates with people over Jerry Lewis and I just can't find their points valid. To say he isn't/wasn't a 'nice' person to his friends and people around him in the past is kind of pointless. How many actors and actresses are known for not being nice? Where does it say nice is a requirement for philanthropy? Screw nice, the man has raised billions of dollars for MDA and to me that's pretty nice.
The money goes into research. The money goes into giving families the help they need to diagnose and deal with some serious shit. The money goes to summer camps so kids can get away and just be kids. The money goes to chairs, braces and equipment so people can live a better life.
Nothing else matters. All of this is going on because one man decided one day that he was going to make a difference and follow through on a vision.
I'm enjoying the talent this year. I even love the dinosaurs they seem to dig up every year just for the telethon, it's like a visit back to another period in time. I cry at every story they tell and the people who are brave enough to get up on stage and share their journey.
ALS scares the shit out of me. Diseases that can come on at any time and hit any age, it's truly sobering to think about. I know I would turn to MDA if I or someone I know was diagnosed. It's not just the research and the material stuff, they offer support and information and compassion.
Did you know the kids get to go to the summer camp for free?
These kids I've seen tonight and this one father with ALS they just had on have more courage and chutzpah than I could ever hope to have, it blows me away.
So much brilliance in the world, why haven't we solved this stuff yet? Not just MD, all the horrid diseases that shouldn't exist.
So here's the deal. Stop reading this blog and go donate some money. Doesn't have to be a lot, if everyone watching donated five bucks they'd soar past last year.
I wrote something last year, it's worth reposting this year:
It's about understanding that there is something you can do about this. It takes money for research. It takes money for medicine. It takes money to get these people the tools they need to have a good quality of life and no child should go without a wheelchair or a walker because their parents can't afford it. Makes me sick.
Muscular Dystrophy is a broad-sweeping term, it's not just kids and there are far too many varieties for me to even begin to understand. But I understand pain and I understand sadness and I understand hope.
Hope. What this telethon and the MDA manage to give to countless families who need it. Without hope there is nothing to look forward to, nothing to hold on to, nothing to believe in. I have hope. I support hope. I believe in hope and I believe in medical miracles brought about because people care. Hokey? Maybe. I don't care, I'll take hokey if it gets one of you to give a doubloon or two.
We need hope, the world is seriously messed up and we need hope.
Jerry Lewis is an American hero and I will always hold him in sacred regard. If it takes not being nice to make his kind of miracles happen I'll give up nice.
So click away from this lame-ass blog now and go give up some cash. You never know. Your donation could be the funds that make it possible for that one brilliant mind to make the connection and find the cure.
Donate here. It feels good, it's the right thing to do and it's good karma to boot.
Thank you Jerry Lewis for 42 official televised MDA telethons. Live long and prosper and continue to touch people with your magic.
<-- Steal me!
