Update on Jen Salem/Our division

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone -

Thanks to so many of you who are already planning your Walk for

MAGIC walkathons. Exciting!!!! Katy and I will be mailing everyone

a letter (if you are a member of MAGIC or are in our database) --

but wanted to give you the good news here.

I am going to be taking a four-month " leave of absence " from my role

as the co-division consultant (business development & fundraising)

so that I can concentrate more wholly on finishing the RSS/SGA

Guidebook. My substitute, drum roll, will be our awesome RSS/SGA

scholarship coordinator -- Dayna Carney. She has graciously agreed

to fill in for me, working with Katy Frissora, while I finish

writing the Guidebook. Dayna will officially begin Sept 1st and

we'll send our more info then. Be nice to her, OK?

Stanhope has agreed to be the primary medical editor with

Madeleine Harbison. When talked of how important this

Guidebook will be to the medical community, it made me realize that

I couldn't keep at the slow pace I was at -- scrambling to find 2-3

hours a week to write in between the kids, house, laundry, and our

division stuff. As you all know, there are only so many hours one

can volunteer in a week!

The other great news is that Dr. Czernichow, who spoke at our

convention and is one of the most reknowned researchers in the field

of SGA, (and extremely well respected) has enthusiastically agreed

to author the chapter on " Being Born SGA: Consequences into

Adulthood " which he spoke at the convention. This is a BIG kudo for

our Guidebook. Physicians will pay more attention to the guidebook

when they see who the editors are, and contributing authors such as

Mitch Geffner, Stanhope, Harbison and Czernichow.

I have also almost completed the first draft of the IRB

(complicated, but it is the " ethics request " that must be approved

in the US before you can do a study.) This RSS/SGA survey will

hopefully be conducted in 2006, and Harbison/Stanhope/Toumba and I

will complete it for publication by the end of 2006 or early 2007.

So, if you are trying to figure out if you should do a " walk " of

your own ... This is why!!!! Our small group of parents are the

ONLY ones out there doing anything like this!!! No one is going to

help our kids and future kids with RSS except us.

I don't want to beg, but I will!!! The walkathon is so easy. MAGIC

gives you a whole kit with everything you need -- and you pick your

own day, time, and how far you want to walk. You get pledges for

each mile. The best thing is if you have kids that are old enough

to walk -- it is a great family experience, and your child can write

a pledge appeal letter or draw a picture -- every dollar counts.

Think of it this way. If 50 families each raised $500, we would

have $25,000. It adds up!!! Please help! Call tollfree 1-800-

3MAGIC3 and ask for your own walkathon participation kit now! Make

a birthday party out of it. Get your child's Girl Scout or Cub

Scout troop to walk together. Or do it simply, like our family did

last year. Too busy to organize anything -- wrote a letter

and we mailed and emailed it to family and friends, and she went

door to door to neighbors. Then one Sunday morning, it was sunny

and we said " let's do it today. " And off we went -- she walked 11

miles.