Maybe Paul McCartney??

I got some, maybe, good news tonight. Last fall, we did a fundraiser for Down syndrome research here in Los Angeles (www.dsrtf.org) which we raised over$21,000. It was a great event, and Dr. Bill Mobley spoke at the event. His first words were, "I'm here to tell you there's hope for your kids." He gave this great powerpoint on where he is at in his research (he believes that in 6-8 years he will have a treatment for our kids that will raise their cognitive levels by 10-20%). So, at the dinner, he mentioned that Sir Paul McCartney had called him, out of the blue, at his office because he had a close friend who had just had a child with Down syndrome. Paul McCartney flew Dr. Mobley to London after our event to meet with this family, and then he just flew him there again recently to talk about how he (Paul McCartney) could get involved. Of course, my thought is, he can play a song or two at our next event and we can raise awareness and money at the same time. But, after not hearing anything for a while, I just assumed he wasn't interested. It turns out, he is definitely interested in being involved, and participating, but he has another organization that he is a spokesperson for that he must work around. I was so excited to hear that! Wouldn't it be so cool if we could get Paul McCartney to be a spokesperson for our kids?! How exciting would that be...

On another note, I just spoke with a producer from CNN, who is doing a story for the Paula Zahn show. He wants to talk with parents who had a prenatal diagnosis, and the medical community pushed for termination, yet they kept their child and feel that they are so glad they did. I never had a prenatal diagnosis, and most moms in our group didn't either. But a few did and were treated pretty badly by the medical community. I liked the producer. I think he is going to do a good story, and, by the way, he has a cousin who is 22 with Down syndrome, so he understands that they are amazing people.

They are going to come film our children when we do our park day, but I will be out of town with Tess. Erik will take Owen, though, so he can be a part of it.

I am on vacation from work for the next two weeks, and have been making plans so we can do things...the park seems to be high on our list, as well as the Long Beach Aquarium, and maybe a day out in Malibu.