let’s help maggie!

Sep 16, 2010

Hello Friends,

The letter below is from my dear friend, Jodie Palmer. She and her husband have created a fun way for each of us to help fund some treatments for their daughter Maggie. I have been amazed at this family’s diligence and determination in helping Maggie reach her potential. Maggie is a joy to me and I have loved the time I have spent with her. It has been one of the joys of my life to watch her learn new skills. Several years ago, Jodie had Keziah and I over for lunch and Keziah worked with Maggie in learning to grab a toy. A simple task for most babies, but for Maggie it took every ounce of concentration she had. Keziah was so excited when Maggie finally grabbed the toy! I know there is a BIG spirit inside of her just trying to find a way to get her body to move. My family will be sponsoring an oxygen dive for Maggie and we invite you to join us in creating a fundraiser for your family to be able to do so as well. I love doing service projects with my children – it is one thing to let them serve others with their church groups, it is quite another experience to have a family service project. I have found that nothing binds us together as much as helping someone else.

I can’t wait to find out what amazing projects you come up with! I think we will be sewing and baking some wonderful things to offer up to the world in hopes of earning $150 for Maggie.

Love to you all,

Tracy

Dear friends and family,

We hope that your family finds the opportunity below intriguing, exciting, and engaging. If you choose to participate we hope that it will bless you as much as it will bless our Maggie.

Please visit Maggie’s official webpage for more information on Maggie’s Month at www.maggiesmonth.wordpress.com.

Warmly,
Jodie & Doug Palmer
Maggie’s Mom & Dad

Hi, I’m Maggie. I’m 4-years old and I have a disability called Cerebral Palsy from a brain injury at my birth. Learn more about ME here. I need your family’s help to get a special therapy called Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT). Click here to read more about HBOT.

Because of my brain injury I can’t walk, talk, feed myself, or even sit up by myself. But HBOT has the potential of helping me walk, talk, and do things that I can’t do right now.

Essentially, the theory is that when the brain is damaged from lack of oxygen, like mine was, many of the damaged brain cells go into hibernation rather than dying. Soaking the brain in oxygen essentially wakes these cells up so that the person regains motor function that was previously lost.

How it works is I go on a “dive” in an oxygen chamber for about an hour. The first round of treatment is 40 dives, 1 dive a day, 5-6 days a week. Usually two treatments are needed; that’s 80 dives.

Of course, I know there are no outcome guarantees, but the possibilities of improving my quality of life are worth the effort. Heck, I could even go to college some day and have a family of my own! I want to be ready for that.

My mom and dad have found a facility that will treat me here in Salt Lake City, which is where I live. It’s very expensive and isn’t covered by insurance.

So, my mom and dad had an idea that is really fun! We’ve created a special fund-raising project called, Maggie’s Month: A Family Philanthropy Project.

The idea is for your family to work together through the month of October to raise the money to sponsor 1 of my dives ($150). The funnest part is coming up with ways to work together so that everyone in your family can get involved. Click here for some really fun FUNDRAISING IDEAS. (Be sure to check out the read-a-thon idea, it’s especially cool!) Our goal is to get 80 dives sponsored.

Family Philanthropy is a really terrific way for your family to work together to make a difference in the world. Click here to learn more about FAMILY PHILANTHROPY.

So, here’s what you do.

1. Send my website or this email to everyone you know. You can use the Facebook and Twitter buttons on my site, or just email the link http://maggiesmonth.wordpress.com/the-projec/ to your friends and family.

2. Sit down with your family and come up with lot’s of fun ideas to raise the money to sponsor 1 of my dives ($150). Make sure you have some yummy treats while you’re brainstorming. It makes your brain work better, and I know about brains!

3. Send my mom an email and tell her that your family is going to participate. Share some of your fundraising ideas. She’s going to post what families are doing and their experiences here on my website. You can also watch the dive chamber fill up with pledges at the bottom of my website. My Mom’s email address is maggiesmonth@gmail.com.

4. Send her updates through October that she can share with everyone. We want to know how it’s going and the fun that you’re having by working together for something really important. Click on the RSS button below so that you can be updated each time my mom adds a new post. Again, my mom’s email address is maggiesmonth@gmail.com.

5. At the end of October, get your family together to count all the money you’ve earned. Gather around the computer and click the DONATE HERE button together. Then give some cheers and go have more yummy treats.

Of course, if you’d like to just sponsor a dive or a portion of a dive yourself, you are welcome to do so at any time on the DONATE HERE page of my website.

My dog Ody Lew is really grateful for your participation, because he really wants me to be able to scratch his belly.

Thank you for helping me!
Love,

Maggie (and Ody Lew)

www.MaggiesMonth.wordpress.com

MaggiesMonth@gmail.com
Special thanks to the philanthropic contributions of Charlie Pabst from Charfish Design for his fabulous Maggie’s Month header, and Abe Fawson from GoodFront for his expertise in WordPress.