Why I'm Running

As many of you know, one of my oldest and closest friends, Melissa, has an adorable little boy named Owen who has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). I have known Melissa since we were in first grade (when we each wore one half of a Best Friends heart around our necks) and we have been close friends ever since. When Owen was just a few months old, he was diagnosed with DMD, a terrible and fatal disease that wastes away his muscles due to a lack of a protein called Dystrophin. Right now he is on the path to being in a wheelchair by the time he is 8 to 12 years old. The reason this disease is fatal is because it affects all of his muscles, eventually including the internal ones like his heart.

Owen just turned five, and while he is doing well now, Owen's mom and dad must deal with the difficult reality of his disease every day. As a mother to two healthy boys, I truly cannot imagine how hard it must be for them to know that their son's future is not guaranteed. Your donation to Charley's Fund brings them and those who love them hope that a cure will be found during Owen's lifetime.

There is a lot of great research coming down the pipeline right now, and all money that I raise here will go to DMD research. Charley's Fund's mission statement is: "We direct money into the hands of researchers who have the best shot at developing a treatment or cure for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Our goal is to cure DMD in time to save Charley’s life and the lives of thousands of boys like him."

Baby Aren (as Owen still excitedly calls him even though Aren now has a baby brother named Roan) doesn't get to see Owen as often as we'd like because of the distance between us, but the two of them act like brothers when they're together, and I certainly consider Owen's mom to be like a sister. My hope is that our boys - and Owen's soon-to-be new baby sister Lucy - can both celebrate many more birthdays together in the future. Your donation could help make this possible.