Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Inspired by The Home. T

A few months back a friend of mine posted a picture of herself with a Kentucky Home. T on facebook.  I knew immediately that I must buy one for myself.  I reached out to her to find out where she might have found such an awesome shirt and she referred me to thehomet.com which you should all go check out!!  After browsing around the website, I decided this would make a perfect gift for our anniversary.  So, I bought one for me and one for Christopher!  They are super comfy and the customer service is absolutely amazing!

Aren't these perfect?  I love them!!

That's not all though.  After purchasing the shirts, I noticed that part of the profits are donated to multiple sclerosis research.  

I was intrigued. So...I did a little research.  And this is what I found according to the National MS Society website.

What is multiple sclerosis?

  It is a chronic, often disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system (CNS), which is made up of the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves. Symptoms may be mild, such as numbness in the limbs, or severe, such as paralysis or loss of vision. The progress, severity, and specific symptoms of MS are unpredictable and vary from one person to another. Today, new treatments and advances in research are giving new hope to people affected by the disease.

Who is affected?

MS is thought to affect more than 2.1 million people worldwide. While the disease is not contagious or directly inherited, epidemiologists—the scientists who study patterns of disease—have identified factors in the distribution of MS around the world that may eventually help determine what causes the disease. Anyone may develop MS but there are some patterns. More than twice as many women as men have MS. Studies suggest that genetic factors make certain individuals more susceptible than others, but there is no evidence that MS is directly inherited. MS occurs in most ethnic groups, including African-Americans, Asians and Hispanics/Latinos, but is more common in Caucasians of northern European ancestry. 

Can MS be cured?

Not yet. There are now FDA-approved medications that have been shown to "modify" or slow down the underlying course of MS. In addition, many therapeutic and technological advances are helping people manage symptoms. Advances in treating and understanding MS are made every year, and progress in research to find a cure is very encouraging.

To say the least, I was inspired by my Home. T purchase.  
 
I decided to choose MS as my April charity by making an additional contribution to help those scientist find a cure.

I had planned to donate directly to the MS Society, but as fate would have it I saw a facebook posting asking for donations for a friend's upcoming BP MS 150 ride to raise funds and awareness of MS.  It was fate alone that I saw this posting as I haven't spoken to this friend (who I studied in London with back in my grad school days) in years.  Seriously, over 5 years since I had seen or spoken to the guy!  I quickly messaged him letting him know I would happily donate to his cause and a brief background of how I had been looking for an opportunity to donate to MS research this month.  Amazing how things like that work out, huh?  Anyway, he was pumped and as it turns out my company matches the donation so even more dollars headed off to help the cause!

What are you doing to help bring awareness to causes that are important to you?

Andrea :)

2 comments:

  1. Adorable t-shirts and SO COOL that the company gives back to charity!!

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  2. Thank you so much for writing about MS. I'm not sure if your mom ever told you this, but my mom was diagnosed with MS when I was six months old. Of course, back in the 80's they didn't know much about it, and mom went through hell to try to feel better. If you look at her facebook page, she has written several posts\notes about her life with MS. I never thought of her as a sick person--I just thought of her as mom. She is my inspiration and hero.

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