Help My Friend

Hi Everyone,

                  This is a little mass e-mail for a very good cause. A great friend of mine and old Co-worker from the states has entered her partner in the “NMEDA contest” to win a new wheelchair van. All I’m asking everyone to do is go to a website and vote for Thati (http://www.nmeda.com/mobility-awareness-month/heroes/florida/orlando/473/thatiana-kerrigan)

Below you will find her nomination written by my good friend Pam.

My nomination for Thatiana:

The person I admire most is not a celebrity, not an athlete, and not a politician.  She is a warrior, but the war she has been waging for the past 6 years is not the kind that first comes to mind.  My hero’s name is Thatiana Kerrigan, and she has been fighting for survival against one of the most debilitating diseases that a person can be stricken with.  At the age of 33, Thatiana found out that a disease called Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) was the cause of muscle loss in her hands and the strange, non-stop twitches that continuously roamed her body.  ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, has since caused many of Thatiana’s nerves to cease functioning.   This led to loss of muscle throughout her body, and today she is confined to a wheelchair, attached to a ventilator, and receives all nutrition through a feeding tube.  Once an avid horseback rider, swimmer, and tambourine player, her movement is now limited to her shoulders, head, and facial muscles.  Yet even in the face of such adversity, she does waste time feeling sorry for herself – she instead appreciates each day as a gift.  It’s true that she can’t do the things she used to love, but she has found new joy in music and film.  Her number one love is to travel so that she can spend time with friends and family, or simply just get out and about.  But this is not easy to do with her current vehicle.  Thatiana’s van is fifteen years old, has more than 100,000 miles on it, and seems to have a mind of its own.  The dashboard works intermittently, the horn does not function, and it recently has started stalling in traffic.  It is so low to the ground that we can’t drive it in certain parts of town due to its inability to clear speed bumps larger than three inches high, and the van has the scrapes to prove it.  In closing, the majority of us would not be able to deal with a fraction of the losses that Thatiana has had to overcome, so it is easy to understand why her smile can inspire so many people.  Please help her to be the winner of a new wheelchair van so that she can continue to share her smile AND travel safely in style J  

P.S

Here is some more information for people who want more detail.

PROMO CODE --- this code can be used only once by each IP address.  So if you already used the code at your job's network, no one else will be able to use it there, and same goes for your network at home.  The promo code for Thati is 835.  Please make sure to use it so you can get the bonus votes - it makes your 1 vote = 5 votes!

As of the last check Thati has 189 votes.  I saw some people that already had 1,000 votes, some with 500, etc.  Please spread the word to your family and friends and ask if they can spread the word as well

Here is the link one more time:

 http://www.nmeda.com/mobility-awareness-month/heroes/florida/orlando/473/thatiana-kerrigan

and here is the link to her personnel site if you want to get more involved and learn more about thati:

http://givethatianalife.webs.com/

website is having a bit of difficulties from everyone voting so if it doesn’t work today follow-up and try again tomorrow and the next day

Come on EVERYONE I know we can do this we should at least be able to get a few 100 votes for thati and multiply that by 5 if everyone uses the promo code at home.

And if we all use our networks I’m sure we can make this happen!

IF we can make this happen I’m sure that is something we can all be proud of

Counting on you guys

-Alexey Mendieta