Make this father’s day

June 17, 2011


Just over a year and a half ago, I wrote about a little girl named Megan with Juvenile Myositis, a rare autoimmune disease that attacks, then can lay in wait for years until ready to attack again.


Sadly, Megan, who is only 11, is again under attack.

Her parents, Kevin from Always Home and Uncool and his wife Rhonda are asking anyone who can spare a little to donate to Cure JM Foundation.

And, even better, if you can donate before June 25, your gift will be matched, up to $3,000.

I can’t think of a better Father’s Day gift for these families than finding a cure.

——————
want more info? keep reading Kevin’s words to understand why this is so important:


Dear Friend,

We have more urgency than usual to our annual appeal for donations to Cure JM Foundation, the nonprofit search for better treatments and a cure for juvenile myositis diseases.

Our daughter Megan, who was diagnosed a JM disease in 2002, recently experienced a flare, or relapse. She essentially had been symptom free for the past three years and weaning off medications until then. In the past month, she has resumed treatment with IV medication – to date seven infusions of steroids, one of the refined human blood product IVIG.

You can help Megan and children like her by sponsoring our family in the Seattle Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon on June 25, 2011. Rhonda is running while Kevin and the kids will hand water to runners on race day.


Your donation will help Cure JM continue funding two vital programs that fulfill its mission to one day make sure no child suffers from juvenile myositis diseases ever again:

* medical research centers, which the foundation helped start, at leading hospitals in Chicago and Washington, D.C., that search for the cause and cure for juvenile myositis diseases, and


* online, print and in-person support to educate people about the disease and help families coping with JM’s effects on their children and lives.

Donations of any size help as no one knows which dollar will be the one that finally funds a cure. Since Cure JM is an all-volunteer organization rest assured that about 98 percent of the money we raise goes directly to the cause instead of salaries, overhead or fundraising consultants.

You can help by making a tax-deductible donation in one of two ways:

1) Use a credit card online via FirstGiving. Our fundraising page is:
http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/rhondaandkevinmckeever/2011?fge=ask

2) Print and fill out the form on this Google documents site at
http://tinyurl.com/3avtba8, write a check to “Cure JM Foundation” (put in the memo section that you are sponsoring Kevin and Rhonda McKeever), and then mail it to:

Cure JM Foundation
836 Lynwood Drive
Encinitas, CA 92024

Matching gift forms may also be sent to that address or faxed to (760) 230-2243.

On behalf of all children and their families afflicted with JM, especially ours, thank you for your generous support.

The McKeever Family
(Kevin, Rhonda, Megan, Calvin and Murphy, too)

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Hanging on an Ordinary Day

June 15, 2011

Still alive! Just busy with life, but I did take a little time to chat with Sarah—wanna see what I had to say?

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Filed Under: Blog Love, Fairly Odd Me Leave a Comment

The dog next door

June 7, 2011

My kids have wanted a dog for a really long time. But not as long as I have wanted one.

There have always been valid excuses: When I was younger it was that I worked really long hours, far from home. And then it was that I was too busy with three young kids. Finally, it was that my two–and then one–elderly cats needed to be let to pass on quietly, without the stress of a puppy in their lives.

As Cally, my beloved 19 1/2 year old cat, took her last low, rattly breaths, Jilly went over to say goodbye, patted her head, then looked up to me and asked plaintively, NOW can we get a dog?

Well, not just yet. Summer is too frenetic for us this year to make me want to bring in another family member. But soon after. . .

Fortunately for all of us, we have had a dog all along, just he’s not quite “ours”. He’s our next-door neighbor’s dog, a big black lab named Bailey. From the moment he appeared as a puppy, he has been part of our lives even if we don’t house him, feed him, take him to the vet or even walk him. (my husband says he is the perfect dog for these reasons)

Thankfully we have the best neighbors ever who don’t even blink an eye when they find one of us in their yard (again) playing/patting/talking to Bailey. They know if Bailey hops his electric fence after a deer or rabbit, that we’ll bring him home, happy that he is safe. Last week, Bailey even came into our cat-free home for the first time and I marveled at how huge he seemed in our kitchen. (mental note: I’ll need a smaller dog if I hope to keep my food from disappearing off the counters).

There is no question that Bailey loves us as much as we love him. If I call his name, he does the whole-body wiggle in anticipation of my visit, and last winter, after not seeing him for a while, he practically spoke to me as I crunched across the snow to say hello.

And if an unfamiliar car or stranger comes up our driveway, he will bark with the ferocity of the best guard dogs out there. Only our driveway, though, not his own. I doubt he’d do anything to a stranger other than lick them, but it always makes me feel a little safer when I hear his booming bark.

If all goes well, by the fall, we’ll have a dog of our own to love. But, one of the first things we’ll do when we bring our new bundle home? Introduce him to Bailey to insure that they become fast friends.

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Filed Under: Fairly Odd Kids, Fairly Odd Me, Non-Human Friends 7 Comments
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