You aren't going to believe the awesome adventure that is taking the SMA fight to a new height! A 22,840 foot height! Yes, that's right…mountain climbing!
You may remember gorgeous Jadon Burks from this post. Well his incredible parents, Tony and Kristin, and their wonderful mountain climbing friend, Jim Baker, have created Climb4SMA and it is AWESOME! On January 1st, Jim is embarking on the adventure of climbing Mount Aconcagua. At 22,840 feet above sea level, Cerro Aconcagua is not only the highest mountain in the Andes mountain range but it is the highest mountain outside of Asia. Aconcagua is the highest peak in both the Western and Southern Hemispheres and is one of the 'Seven Summits'. This is an incredible accomplishment on its own. But Jim immediately saw the power of turning this personal challenge into an opportunity to raise critical funding for SMA research and literally elevate SMA awareness.
In the fall of 2009, more than a year before my intended climb of Aconcagua, I came up with the idea of using this climb as an opportunity to raise awareness and money to help Tony and Kristin find a cure for their son Jadon. It is hard to describe how moved I was when they both spoke to our company explaining how Jadons disease has affected his life and theirs. I knew then that I wanted to do something more to help and this upcoming climb seemed to be the perfect event. Climb4SMA was born.
While Jim has committed to fundraising for SMA research, Tony and Kristin are not simply relying on Jim to take this all on his shoulders. They are busy creating an awesome Climb4SMA event, are rallying corporate sponsors, and have challenged their friends and family to get involved and join a “Belay Team” to help them collectively raise $50,000 in this inspiring campaign. ALL for gene therapy research!
To climb a mountain of this magnitude, one must be willing to change their modern lifestyle. They must be willing to do things that others are not willing to do. They must make sacrifices that others are not willing to make. One must be mentally prepared to accept the difficulties and inconveniences in order to succeed.
There are a lot of similarities between climbing and living with SMA.
We get goosebumps reading this. And we are completely confident that Climb4SMA is going to be a huge success! You only need to speak to Kristin or Tony for one minute to feel the enormous love they have for Jadon and be moved by their incredible passion to fight SMA with all they've got! On any level, under any circumstances, what they are doing is incredible. This is a massive undertaking. Think of how many people this is going to touch. Think of how many people are now going to know about SMA because of them. And so to take something of this scale on while also caring for a child with SMA, is simply heroic. And we are so very honored to partner with such incredible, passionate, selfless people.
You will be hearing lots about Climb4SMA in the coming months. Show your support by checking out their website, joining the Climb4SMA Facebook fan page, and Facebook Cause. Together we can End SMA! One person and one dollar at a time!