Beat my donation. Because kids still die from Mitochondrial Disease
I didn’t know Lily Anna Merritt. I never met Lily's parents, nor any of the people that loved and cherished her. But her story took immediate hold. She was only eight months old, when she died from Mitochondrial Disease, in April 2006.
There is no cure or treatment for Mitochondrial Disease. Kids are dying, familys are shattered. The Lily Foundation is trying to do something about that, by raising money to fund research, train doctors and support families with sick children. The Liy Foundation is run by Lily’s mum and dad Liz and Dave. The foundation has already raised £100,000 for Guy's and ' hospital to help the battle against Mitochondrial Disease. Part of that went into the a microchip to be used in a new gene testing unit. With the aid of this equipment, the defective gene might be possible to identify and a cure found.
www.thelilyfoundation.org.uk and @4Lilyfoundation on twitter.
Why are you involved?
Seriously, no parent should lose their child like that. And kids that live with Mitochondrial Disease today need to be given their lives back. In addition, my own daughter is called Anna, by coincidence born only two weeks after Lily, albeit in a different country. My Anna is now three years old, just like Lily would have been. As I write this, Anna is sound asleep in her bed, not ten feet from where I am sitting. If we were so very unlucky, and if had the strength of Liz and Dave, it might easily have been Anna Engstrom who had a foundation in her name. No more.
How can I help?
My small, personal way of helping out is this page, based on me running the Copenhagen Marathon in May support of the Lily Foundation. I am a terrible runner (sub 5 hours is a reasonably goal) so I have to train. I am donating £1 for every 10k I run until the finish line. Can you top that? Track my progress here. You’ll also find me as @KonradKrabba on twitter.
Another small way I am helping is by putting something of the feelings involved into song. Feel free to download the song Pain by our group M31. If you share it, please add the link to the Lily Foundation.
Finally
Thanks for taking the time to visit this page. Now please donate. Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and secure, pretty much like buying a book on Amazon. Once you donate, JustGiving will send your money directly to the Lily Foundation and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a taxpayer. It’s easy and safe for non-UK taxpayers too.
So please donate now. Any amount is a welcome contribution. And spread the word.
