A Personal Message From Yours Truly

Here at Tri-State Media Watch, my primary focus is on the media - but I'd be remiss if I didn't point out something that, if you go to my Personal Thoughts blog, you would already know.

Your Tri-State Media Watcher was diagnosed in 1985, at birth, with what is called Spina Bifida. That's a neural tube defect in which the spinal cord is partially exposed, and can result in paralysis, neurological troubles, and other problems. According to the Cincinnati chapter of the Spina Bifida Association, the Centers for Disease Control recently recalculated the number of people who are currently living with this defect. The latest figures are that 185,000 people have spina bifida, with almost half (90,000) of them being diagnosed with myelomeningocele (yours truly being one of that 90,000). That's up from 70,000 people thought to be diagnosed. Yes, that means the number has nearly TRIPLED.

To this end, yours truly is undertaking, over the next 2 months, a massive fundraising effort. On September 26, I'll be part of the 9th annual SBAC Walk and Roll in Harrison, Ohio at Miami Whitewater Forest. Over at my Personal Thoughts blog, you'll find a link to my donor page. Click it, then look for links that say "Support Me" to make a donation.

I normally do not post personal messages like this on here. But...with this being an important cause, I figured I needed as many avenues as possible to get the word out.

By the way, PTONKY also contains a link to my donor page for ANOTHER effort I support - the 2009 Walk to Cure Diabetes in Newport, Kentucky. This actually happens one week BEFORE the SBAC walk. If you're able to donate to this effort, too, I'll be very thankful and so will the members of my walking team, Lindsay Lou's Walking Crew (so named after a very close friend of mine from my high school days...)