Happy 10th Birthday !

[Guest guest]

Happy 10th Birthday !

Today, September 21, 2008 marks the 10th anniversary of the founding

of ! A decade! Double digits! Time to celebrate!

I created because I found a lack of positive information

exchange in the general CMT community. I subscribed to a newsletter

and was briefly on a chat line, but was unimpressed with those venues

and information presented. I wanted more! Therefore, I thought with

the use of email, persons with CMT could virtually interact with each

other, sharing resources, smarter ways of managing symptoms and

research news could instantly span the globe. In addition, was

to be free to all. The original mission of having a positive focus

has remained intact and continues to attract new members.

On this day 10 years ago, there were two of us. We talked to each

other. There were 4 posts that day.

Now our active membership is well over 2,000 persons spanning the

planet! 50,000 posts later, now everyone's talking to everyone and

our posts average between 15 and 20 per day.

We have seen some amazing research developments, such as the first

human trials of NT-3, and more recently Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C). In

addition, we've received hope from potential therapeutic research on

prolotherapy, gene silencing, Curcumin and Citicoline supplements,

Myostatin, C-Jun nerve repair, microRNAs, progesterone and stem cell

discoveries, Ruboxistaurim use, heat shock protein mutations, FK506

early muscle recovery, Innurex and Hedgehog Protein, Dynamin research

neuro-regenerative peptides, and advances in nanomedicine.

We have witnessed the development of more effective medications for

pain and depression. We have been encouraged by health/ exercise

studies and helped each other with disability related issues.

We have established a huge archived database on hundreds of CMT

topics, added important information to our files, established a

plethora of helpful links, and started a booklist that includes good

books on neurology and/or living healthy with a disability.

We created the first-ever CMT awareness ribbon, followed by our logo

first class mail postage stamp http://www.zazzle.com/pd/find/qs-

We have shared our hearts, our lives, photos, needs, wants and

dreams; most importantly, we have shared what we Can Do despite the

effects of CMT. `CAN MANAGE THIS' became our `slogan' from the CMT

moniker.

On this day, I have a special dream – that by our 20th birthday, we

are still here, but the discussions will revolve around all the new

effective treatments we're using and how the arrestment of the CMT

genetic markers has changed countless lives.

Think it is possible? You bet! So stick around, more will be revealed!

Gretchen Glick

Founder