Please Support the JDRF

Hey Everyone, I know attention-spans on forums tend to be short, so I’ll try to keep this post quick as well.

Anyways, I will be participating in the JDRF walk in DC on May 4th this year and I would like to ask you all for a contribution to the JDRF. Incase you don’t know, JDRF stands for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and it is a non-profit organization that helps fund research into treatment and cures for diabetes. Roughly 85% of the donations they receive go directly to funding research into diabetes.

Type I diabetes is a very serious autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks its own insulin producing cells. Without the insulin producing cells, a person’s body is unable to effectively regulate the amount of sugar in their blood. The effects of this situation are serious. A high blood sugar level can result in diabetic coma and death.

Because of these complications, children that are diagnosed with type I diabetes must live very different lives from other children their age. They must constantly be vigilant about what food they eat, must check their blood sugar several times a day, and may be required to receive shots of insulin multiple times per day as well. Even still, with this treatment, the chance of developing other devastating complications later in life is quite high.

As a disclaimer, I work for Macrogenics, Inc, a company that is investigating a new therapy called teplizumab that will help these patients better manage their disease. Teplizumab is currently undergoing a pivotal stage III clinical trial called the Protégé trial. This trial is partially supported by the JDRF. This trial will help us to evaluate if Teplizumab can protect and preserve the insulin producing cells of the body. If it proves effective, Teplizumab could significantly reduce an individuals dependence on insulin injections.


If you would like to make a contribution to the JDRF to support me, please visit this page:
http://walk.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=extranet.personalpage&confirmid=87006519

If you would still like to make a contribution, but would prefer to support another person or go directly to the JDRF, you can visit this page to search for someone or to make a donation:
http://walk.jdrf.org/
or for direct contributions:
https://www.jdrf.org/index.cfm?page_...&sitereferer=1

Taken from their website:
JDRF is an accredited 501(c)(3) nonprofit agency; all donations (including membership donations) are tax deductible. A receipt will be provided via e-mail. Additionally, donations of $250 or more will receive a letter of acknowledgment.

If you have read through all of this, thank you very much for your time. If you would like more information you are welcome to PM me, or you can visit www.jdrf.org or www.macrogenics.com.

(This post made multiple times with permission from Rob Lay).

Thank you to everyone for reading and/or making a donation.

Robert Whitener

 

Sure thing. It is pretty easy to register for a walk.

Take a look here:

http://walk.jdrf.org/

On that page you can do a search for walks by area and then register for them.

I'll send you a PM in a bit about your other question...

Robert

 

Hey no problem... it's not off track at all. if you or your g/f or both decide to join the walk and want to do fundraising as well, I will be more than happy to add the links to my posts if you would like me to do that.

I'm going to try to get you that pm in a bit, I'm having to go back and forth between my desk and my lab a lot today.

edit... PM sent. Hope it helps.