Story
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: 19.0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><strong><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0H1aMYu80I">David</a> is the son of my friends and he has SMA. </span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: 19.0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><strong>Spinal Muscular Atrophy</strong> (</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">SMA) is a devastating, genetic disease that results in muscular weakness, leading to severe disability and the possibility of premature death. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: 19.0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It is a leading genetic killer of infants and toddlers, with 50% of the most severely diagnosed cases resulting in death by the age of two.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: 19.0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">SMA is currently incurable and often fatal.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: 19.0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">1 in every 6,000 births is affected by SMA</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: 19.0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">1 in every 40 people is a carrier of the defective gene that causes SMA and a child of two carriers has a one in four chance of developing SMA</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: 19.0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><strong><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">But not all is bad news</span></strong><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> – for the 1 time ever, there is a drug being </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">tested and there are more in the pipe line. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">The <a href="http://www.smatrust.org/">SMA Trust</a> is the only trust in the UK that is funding SMA drug trials, so </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">that for people like David, one day… dreams might become reality.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: 19.0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I will be running for Team David in the Bath and the Reading<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Half Marathons and hope you will support me for this worthy cause.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: 19.0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Please dig deep and donate now. </span></p>