Guild Announcements
2nd Annual Woodinville Winemaker's Triathlon & After Party Fun(d)raiser
40+ Woodinville wineries are eager to compete for the trophy at this exclusive winemaker event.
Are you ready to watch all the fun, meet all the winemakers & taste their wines?
Click here to learn more about
this event or here to purchase tickets. Sponsorship opportunities
are described in the sponsorship kit document.
New Guild T-Shirts Available
Attention Mito Medical Specialists – We need your help to volunteer at Camp Korey –
a week long camp for Mito kids August 2-6, 2010.
Click here for more details (PDF Flyer).
In addition to mito specialists, Camp Korey is looking for other volunteers. For additional
information please click here or go to the Camp Korey website.
'Cure for Mito' Auction and Dinner
Thanks to the generous support of our auction attendees, donors and sponsors, the guild raised over $175,000 at
the 2009 auction, bringing our total proceeds raised over the past 7 years to over $1.2 million for Seattle Children's!
These funds are being used to support our efforts at Seattle Children's to one day have a Center for
Metabolic and Mitochondrial Diseases and we are grateful to all of our supporters over the last
few years that have made this all possible. Visit the auction page to find out about making auction donations, or
becoming an auction sponsor.
Camp for Mito Kids at Camp Korey
in Carnation, Washington
From August 2nd through August 6th, 2010, The Mitochondrial Research Guild is pleased to announce that
Camp Korey will be hosting a camp dedicated to children with mitochondrial disease.
Camp Korey, located in
Carnation, WA, is a medically supervised camp staffed with physicians and nurses, and trained camp counselors
for children suffering from serious and life threatening illnesses. The camp provides a week-long
experience of camp programs and activities for children ages 7-16 at no cost to them.
For information about the mito camp click here.
Do you want to make a donation to the guild
through your annual giving campaign at work? Or, make donations directly to the
guild or donate items for the annual auction? Please visit the
donations page.
What is Mitochondrial disease?
Imagine a plant that is unable to make use of the
sun and water surrounding it. Over time the plant will not
function properly and will show signs of distress, its leaves will
begin to wilt and eventually it could die. That is what happens to
people with mitochondrial disease.
Everyday, we consume food to make the energy our body needs to
function. If our mitochondria are not functioning correctly then
the body's organs begin to suffer.
A person's brain can be impaired, their vision could become
dim, their muscles can twitch spastically or they can become too
weak to walk or write, their heart could be weakened, and they
might not be able to eat and digest their food.
For large
numbers of people, especially children, this is precisely the
situation in which they find themselves due to defects in the
mitochondria.
Depending on which cells are affected, a child can
suffer from strokes, seizures, gastro-intestinal trouble,
blindness, deafness, muscle failure, diabetes, kidney and heart
trouble, developmental delays, immune system problems and liver
disease.
Whole systems within a body can begin to fail and the life of
the child is compromised, changed or ended.
Experts estimate that one in 2,000 babies may inherit some kind
of mitochondrial illness and some experts are saying that the
number could be as high as 1 in 1,000. 10% to 50% of these
children will die before their teenage years.
Currently there is no cure.
Defects in mitochondrial function have now been linked to many
of the most common diseases of aging including Alzheimers, and
Parkinsons.
For additional information on how you can help please contact Jill Herczog at
j.herczog@nwmito-research.org or
Ashley Farrington at
a.farrington@nwmito-research.org. |