News
Muscular Dystrophy Canada’s Buck-4-Luck Campaign Launches February 15
Toronto, ON – February 11, 2010 – It’s Buck-4-Luck time in Canada! For just a buck, in the weeks leading up to St. Patrick’s Day, you can give luck and hope to the over 50,000 Canadians affected by a neuromuscular disorder.
Between February 15 and March 17, over 670 banks, restaurants, pubs, schools, Muscular Dystrophy Canada Chapters, Fire Departments and retailers across Canada will be encouraging patrons to support the Buck-4-Luck campaign by making a $1 donation to Muscular Dystrophy Canada. In exchange, they will be asked to write their name on a shamrock, which will be proudly displayed on a visible wall or window to create a “sea of green” shamrocks.
Proceeds from the Buck-4-Luck campaign will go towards helping Muscular Dystrophy Canada sustain research, provide information and education, and purchase assistive devices to help people living with neuromuscular disorders lead comfortable and independent lives.
Established in 1954, Muscular Dystrophy Canada's mission is to enhance the lives of those affected with neuromuscular disorders by continually working to provide ongoing support and resources while relentlessly searching for a cure through well funded research.
For more information on muscular dystrophy or to make a donation, visit www.muscle.ca.
Tanner Bawn/Air Canada – Letter to the Editor
Attention:
To the Editor
We, at Muscular Dystrophy Canada have been following the Tanner Bawn story closely since last Thursday. The story of this young boy stranded after his electric wheelchair was broken on an airline points out the overall lack of effort to support people with mobility issues in our Canadian society. The correct mobility equipment, such as customized power wheelchairs, is vital to the lives of people with muscular dystrophy as their muscle strength deteriorates. While we can all agree that this equipment is essential to the health of people such as Tanner, wheelchairs and mobility aids continue to be inadequately and unequally funded across Canada. Last year alone, Muscular Dystrophy Canada helped to fund over $2 million dollars worth of mobility equipment, while it should be the government’s responsibility to provide this essential equipment.
Tanner Bawn’s life is affected by Duchenne muscular dystrophy, an inherited, progressive, degenerative disease that affects the muscles throughout the body. Thanks to improvements in diagnosing the type of neuromuscular disorder, the use of steroid medication to help preserve muscle strength, enhanced respiratory interventions, and other improvements in clinical practices, we are seeing more young boys surviving into adulthood. As the parent of a son with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and Chair of the Board of Muscular Dystrophy Canada, I am pleased with the advancements that have been made in extending and enhancing the lives of those with neuromuscular disorders, and in particular Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
I personally know of many families, like my own, who face the challenges of this disease with courage, determination, passion and caring. Young people with muscular dystrophy are becoming productive adults and we need to ensure that our society provides them with the equipment they need to make them strong contributors to our society like any other Canadian.
Michel Chalifoux
Chair, Board of Directors
Muscular Dystrophy Canada
2345 Yonge Street, Ste. 900
Toronto, ON M4P 2E5
