Dear Association Members:

This letter is long overdue and I've been anxious to tell the story. Cody's story I'm not going to tell you, you can look that up on the Internet under www.codysfirststep.org.

I am Shelley Unser, the proud mother of four great kids -- Al, 17; Cody, 13; Shannon, 11; and Joey, 3. It's been approximately 14 months since Cody came down with an acute case of Transverse Myelitis. I need to give a little background information before it all happened.

I married Al Unser, Jr. in 1982 when we were very young. We had a very public and sometimes stormy marriage that ended in November of 1998. I'll spare everyone the details.

I was going through my own grieving process and loss of identity. I had always traveled with Al and was heavily involved in the racing scene, its fundraisers and all it entails. I was also sports commentating part-time in a sport which was all consuming and is more of a way of life than most people can imagine.

Cody's Transverse Myelitis couldn't have happened at a worse time. Her father and I were barely speaking (after being inseparable for 17 years) and in the midst of a bitter divorce when Cody collapsed at her middle school basketball practice.

Cody was taken to the hospital in Albuquerque where, being still somewhat of a small town, it was decided she was probably just hysterical and trying to get attention due to her parent's situation.

If you know Cody, or once you meet her, this will truly make you angry. She is not that kind of child! The hysteria they saw was actually a severe needle phobia. The ambulance EMTs had made several attempts to put IVs in her on the way to the hospital. She was alone and frightened. I was out of town and, by the time I got there, Cody was paralyzed from the chest down. I was in shock, mortified and had three other siblings at home looking to me for answers I could not give them. Fortunately, with the help of my family and a few true great friends, we somehow lived through the beginning of the whole ordeal.

I knew from day one that Cody was going to make a difference; I just didn't know how.

With the last name Unser we were able to go outside Albuquerque for help. I didn't realize until later just how many people struggle with their insurance companies and never get this option.

I then found Dick and Deanne Gilmur through a friend on the Internet. Deanne also gave me the number of a woman named Gail Hirsch who was going through the same thing in California with her 13 year old son, Evan. She still has no idea how comforting it was to talk to her. She was a total stranger and yet I poured my heart out sometimes in the middle of the night during the initial stages of grieving and looking desperately for answers.

I remember, as a mother, lying there at night trying to pretend I couldn't move to help me feel more of what my daughter was going through! I would just cry and cry. Somewhere between denial and anger, Cody and I came to terms at the same time and took a different outlook. I suddenly realized Cody Unser was obligated to use the famous name and, despite the divorce, she and I had every right to capitalize on that name and do something good with it.

I somehow found some of my old confidence and realized just how much I knew about public relations, fundraising and awareness from my contributions to my marriage. I could do the same for Cody and, in turn, help her and others.

People Magazine started the snowball and before I knew it, Cody, like it or not, was becoming a poster child for Transverse Myelitis.

Her father and I had had numerous discussions on the subject because his life was spent in the limelight. He was worried Cody would be used up and tired out. Ultimately, as her mother, I decided the decision was neither Al's nor mine, but hers and I would support her all the way with whatever she decided.

The rest is history. Fourteen months and a few good mother/daughter fights later, Cody has amazed me with 48 Hours (the television crew lived with us for two weeks), Inside Edition, Courage and numerous articles. We have pushed each other into TM mania. I no longer watch racing, but medical shows. I feel like a pre-med student and I have found new meaning in "life." I have become a better mother, held my daughter to her celebrity promises and, yes, at times worn her out.

I know with research there will be a cure for paralysis caused by TM. I know, through Cody's smile, she has certainly brought attention to TM. I wish every person with TM could have received the same amount of attention Cody is getting (and she would gladly share it, believe me) but more importantly, now that the word of TM is out, we need your help to focus on TM.

Cody has been sending out medical forms for Johns Hopkins to collect data. She has asked hospitals to contact Dr. Doug Kerr and share patient information during the acute phase. To make this work, every person reading this newsletter needs to take the initiative so her efforts are not in vain.

Please use your own contacts to tell your doctors and hospitals to find a way to share data. This horrible condition needs to be diagnosed quicker so more people don't end up in wheelchairs.

A very young couple in Indiana just lost their dad, Frank Meloy, to TM. At the funeral they decided, instead of flowers, to help Cody's Foundation. They had their late father's doctors contact Dr. Kerr and share their knowledge of his death.

Every single person with TM is a pioneer and, in my opinion, obligated to push the medical community to understand it. We also need hospitals that truly have a grip on how to treat it.

I am so proud of Cody and I am so touched by so many of you that I have met and talked to in just one year's time. This experience has restored my faith in humanity.

I cannot wait until the Symposium in 2001. Who knows, maybe they will be closer to a cure before we even get there. If nothing else, the world will think twice before sending someone away because they can't diagnose it. I can envision the day when they (the hospitals and doctors) might get on line, type in a few symptoms, a red flag will go up. Dr. Kerr will get a call and the proper drugs and procedures will be administered within hours and that fortunate person will walk out of the hospital within weeks never knowing that all of you and my daughter, Cody, made a difference! How cool would that be?