The Christmas Card Campaign: Help Us Fund the Accelerated Cure Project -- Finding the Cause and Cure For TM, NMO and ADEM

The TMA is partnering with the Accelerated Cure Project to study the causes of the neuroimmunologic disorders, including TM, MS, NMO and ADEM.  TMA newsletters and the journal have provided you with information about the study and what we are trying to accomplish in the way of research and clinical care from a medical center network.  We are also asking for you to volunteer to participate in this important study.  The ACP research will find the causes of these disorders, and by doing so, will provide a foundation for developing acute therapies to stop the attacks, for designing diagnostic tools, and for finding cures for these disorders. 

We need your help to make this project a success!  To enter one person into the study with TM, NMO or ADEM will cost approximately $2,500.  We are going to need to have thousands of people with these disorders entered into the study in order to achieve meaningful results.  There are significant costs associated with this work, because the study involves the collection of comprehensive medical information through a long survey and also the handling of samples from a blood draw.  The ACP requires an extensive infrastructure which includes the companies who are managing the databases of medical information and the blood samples (repository).  Each of the medical centers in the network also has a research coordinator.  The costs of doing medical research are significant.  We all intimately understand what the costs are of not performing this research.

This critically important work needs to be done, and we are all going to need to get involved in order to make it happen.  The most successful fundraising activities we engage in are those that focus on our friends and family members. 

If we are going to raise this money, the vast majority of it is going to come from you and from your friends and family. Why? Because they are the only people in the universe who know about these conditions and they are really the only people who care!  I am not comfortable asking my family for money. I am less comfortable asking my friends for money. I am no different than you. But I have learned to do it, because I have come to accept that this is the only way I can make the difference for Pauline and the so many others of you whom I have come to love and care about so deeply.

I have an idea which I think might make this easier for you to accomplish. I have written a letter and have posted it on our web site. I have included important information about TM and the neuroimmunologic disorders, about the TMA, and why it is important for the TMA to succeed in raising money for research. The letter is created in Word. Since most people have MSWord on their computers, I am encouraging you to personalize this letter. Please include information about how TM or ADEM or NMO have impacted your lives, and why you need for this research to be done.

When you send Christmas cards this year, and every year, please include a copy of this letter in your card. Just fold it and put it into the card.  And, if you don't celebrate Christmas, you can include the letter with any regular correspondence you have with your family and friends.

Scroll down to the bottom of this page to find the link to this letter in Word.  Once you have the Word file open, you will be able to edit the text to personalize the letter for your family and friends.  If you do not own a computer or have internet access, please have a friend or family member print the letter for you. 

In addition to funding the ACP study, the TMA will continue to fund TM research, such as the work that is being done by the Johns Hopkins TM Center and Project RESTORE.  Your support will help us to fund all of this important work and will also help us to motivate other researchers and medical centers to enter our important area of study!  Do it for yourselves and do it for the other children and adults in your community who need this research and the great hope that this research brings for all of us.  

The cost of adding this letter to your cards will be minimal.  The amount of time and energy involved in sending this letter with your cards will be minimal.  The positive impact of sending this letter in your cards can be enormous – for you and for everyone in our community!

Fundraising Letter

• Microsoft Word Format

Note to AOL users: To save the Microsoft Word file to your computer so you can personalize it, right-click on the above link and select "Save Target As".

• Plain text to copy & paste