Web Conference - Feb. 17, 2011 at 7 PM

Down Syndrome Achieves is a Down syndrome organization pushing for more NIH funding for DS research. It would be great if we came out in force to show our support. There is good information available with the little funding DS has had....... but imagine the possiblities.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease!!! Let's squeak!!

 LIVE Web Conference:
The Abandonment of DownSyndrome Research


Thursday, Feb. 17


7PM

Next Thursday, Feb. 17, at 7PM, nearly 100 families from as far away as CA, AL, VA, WI, SD, IL, FL, TX, OK, MN, WA, OR, and other states across the country will participate in our LIVE web conference: The Abandonment of Down Syndrome Research.
Whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, constant failures in Down syndrome research affects us all and prevents us from achieving the type of future that we all hope for our loved ones with DS.
This web conference will not be easy for anyone who loves someone with DS. It is a cold hard anguishing look at why DS research has failed for more than 100 years to make breathrough discoveries that would vastly improve the quality of life and health for all of our infants, toddlers, teens and adults swith DS. But there is a way forward...
Take 6o-minutes to learn the facts, and learn more about how and why your help is needed to turn this disastrous trend around. As a parent, grandparent or advocate, I urge you to please join the web conference as well. I hope you will take the time to join us. Click here to register now!
Lito Ramirez
Founder of Down Syndrome Achieves

1st Annual Golf Tournament for Down Syndrome

Benefitting the Changing Minds Foundation

October 28, 2010

11:30am

Wildcat Golf Club

The Lakes Course

12000 Almeda Road
Houston, Texas 77045

http://www.wildcatgolfclub.com/

One of our CMF parents, David Moehlman, has put together a fundraising golf tournament to benefit Changing Minds Foundation. We are currently registering teams of 4 for $500. The event will include lunch and dinner, awards & prizes, as well as a silent auction. We need everyone's help to make this event a success.
So many of you may be thinking....

I don't play golf.

I don't live in Houston.

How could I get involved?

Well, I have the answer for you and it's very simple. Enter our Golf Ball Drop Event and purchase as many golf balls as you'd like for $25 each. We'll assign you a number to each golf ball purchased and on the day of the tournament all balls will be dropped from a helicopter hovering over the driving range. The first ball to land in the designated hole (or closest to the pin) wins a trip for two to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The Ball Drop is limited to 2,000 balls and the deadline to enter is October 25th, 2010. You do NOT have to be present to win. We're a 501c 3 charitable organization so your donation is tax deductible.


To purchase golf balls for entrance into the CMF Ball Drop, to register to play golf or to view a short video of an actual Golf Ball Drop, go to:
http://www.changingmindsfoundation.org/golf_tournament.html

You can make your purchase through Paypal. If you do not have a Paypal account, you can still use Paypal and pay with any major credit card. If you prefer to mail a check, go to the above web link to get the form and address for Changing Minds Foundation.

Lastly, for those of you wondering where your money will be going, it's very simple: Research. For example, the Down Syndrome Research Facility at Stanford University is making extensive progress in the laboratory to improve the learning and memory in the DS mouse. They are on the cusp of a major breakthrough. Check out the link to an article below from Scientific American for more information on their findings.

http://www.changingmindsfoundation.org/documents/newsletter.html

Thank You !

We appreciate all your support.

Our Biggest Supporters Come In Small Packages

The 'Spare Change for Changing Minds' campaign is catching on. Meet Ally, one of our best fundraisers.  Her mother, Kari, works in my office and she brought a can home to help support Changing Minds.  Ally took the initiative and went door to door in her neighborhood to collect money.  She filled her can in no time!  If you remember in an earlier blog, Reid had collected money for us too.  It looks like the kiddos are CMF's strongest supporters !!!!  Thank you Ally for being willing to ask your friends and neighbors for their "spare change".  We are getting closer to our goal of funding more research into treatments for Down syndrome.

Why Do we Need More Research?

Everyone cries, "We need more research in Down syndrome!" Not that I disagree but there is an enormous amount of push back and timidity to treat those with Down syndrome based on the research findings we already have.


Why do more research if you don't even believe what has already been discovered? In fact, Down syndrome is ahead of any other disorder even though we have the least funding. One woman made this happen. Her name is Muriel Davisson at Jackson laboratory in Bar harbor, Maine. She developed a mouse model of Down syndrome.


With a mouse, researchers are able to develop theories and then test those ideas directly on the DS mouse.


In the last 10 years, a few critical ideas have surfaced about how the DS brain works or doesn't work. These ideas have uncovered the mystery of how learning is so difficult for those with DS. But when I talk to physicians and parents, they are very unsure about treating these deficits. It made me wonder why spend time and money on research if you don't use it.


Do we wait until every detail is known? Did you know that no one knew how aspirin worked until the early 1990's? The details of biological systems are understood more today than any time before but why not use the information in real time?


Why do research and not apply it? None of the CMF protocol is dangerous. It is all logical with the information and research that we have at this moment. This is truly the 'practice' of medicine. As the research unfolds, we must move and change with it.