Posts Tagged ‘MDA’

Are America’s men IMPOTENT? Really?

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 by annemarie

I don’t believe that many American men have Erectile Dysfunction!
I mean COME ON. I can’t watch a any sporting event anymore with out being inundated with Viagra, Cialis and two bathtubs on a cliff. I wonder how do men watch sports with their sons anymore? That has to be uncomfortable! ” UM Dad? What’s erectile dysfinction?…and can I catch it?… am I doomed to get it?”

Now if I were a man, and THE organ I have that symbolizes my virility and gives me sensual pleasure was not working…you can bet my ass would be on a phone with my Dr. SO FAST…they would feel the wind in the whole neighborhood! So is it REALLY neccessary and effective to bludgeon the public with incessant advertising? I mean how many men would forget? Oh yeah that’s right! My Dick doesn’t work! Shit, I need to call a Doc!

I understand it takes alot of cash to R&D a drug, I do really, I am afterall trying to raise $$ for a treatment to save my own life. And this is why I am bit more sensitive to this deluge of ED advertising that the average Joe. If We took the money from 1 ad per game, especially the big games, say oh STANLEY CUP FINALS for example or any NFL/NBA/ Baseball Game; and we put that money into research for orphan diseases, perhaps even ALS. I wonder at the difference an infusion of capital like that would make?

Currently, most of the research money in the ALS world is being raised by people dying from ALS and their families. Can we get a little love here? I would appreciate a blank screen for 15 seconds announcing that the $ that would have been paid for yet another 90 sec ED ad was being redirected by the Drug Co. AND the Network into research for Stage 2 Drug trials say at ALS-TDI or to Augies Quest or to some other established research facility who is devoted to an accelerated schedule to develope a therapy for ALS and other orphan diseases. This would make a difference for me! The network would gain goodwill, in the eyes of the public and only loose 15 secs of airtime, and the drug company would also get some goodwill and stop looking like greedy maleficent castrating whores.

Sound Good?

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May 13th Anyone’s Life Story; MDA’s ALS Awareness campaign

Thursday, May 13th, 2010 by annemarie

Here’s my interview for May’s ALS awareness campaign:

Anne Marie Schlekeway
13
Hometown, state: Chicago, Illinois

Age: 43

Hobbies/Interests:
Dining, wine tasting (I’m a sommelier), art, blogging and public speaking through my “Speechless Speeches”

Favorite quote:
Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive. ~Howard Thurman

Date of ALS diagnosis: March 2009

Tell us about your life before ALS:
I was a senior executive at an international training and development company who managed 300 people and led programs for 50 to 400 people at a time. I was a master at the spoken word, could silence a room without a microphone and belt out the blues with the best of the amateurs! I worked hard, played harder and enjoyed life to the fullest while making a difference.

Tell us about your life with ALS:
I have continued to make a difference on a smaller scale with my own executive coaching and training company and my blog, www.kissmyals.com. I have a lot more balance and rest and quiet in my life now, and I have time for philanthropy. Though my body has gotten weaker and speaking is very difficult, my experience of life and work has become far richer; everything is savored, not devoured.

Do you have a “life motto” or profound words to live by?
I had to lose my powers of speech to find my voice.

Has there been an “ah-ha!” moment or a specific turn of events that has helped you live with ALS?
I have them almost every single day. I look for the gift in the grief and the loss … it’s in there even if you have to excavate it.

Tell us how ALS has brought new significance to any aspect of your life:
Nothing gets taken for granted. I have sharpened my purpose. To transcend the impact that ALS has had on myself and my life is my task. I am out to push up the life expectancy and perhaps heal this condition.

How has MDA impacted your journey with ALS?
When I could no longer do my job and had to leave my company, my COBRA payment was twice my monthly expenses. I had three years of symptoms and no diagnosis. I took out my 401K to live on while I tried to recover from whatever illness I had. As things progressed, the MDA clinic was the only way I could get medical care. Five-and-a-half years after my symptoms began, I was diagnosed.

Is there anything else about you and/or ALS that you want to share with people who read your story?
ALS need not define you. It is a challenge but it’s still possible to be empowered and happy in the face of it.

External Link: Read today’s story .

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