Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Good Festivus, and Happy Kwanzaa. And for anybody not covered by the previous salutations, I wish you a joyous winter solstice.
Okay, folks, the votes are in for our holiday donation contest, and it looks like the Tisch MS Research Center of New York has won in a landslide victory. The Tisch Center garnered 63% of the votes in our poll to determine which MS nonprofit should get the $500 donation derived from the prize money Wheelchair Kamikaze won in Healthline.com's "Best Health Blogs" contest.
Ultimately, over 210 people voted in our contest, with about 130 of them voting for the Tisch Center, so a resounding victory all around. This takes nothing away from the other nonprofits I offered up for votes: The Accelerated Cure Project, The Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center, and The Multiple Sclerosis Association of America. All of these organizations are doing great things for the MS community and are certainly deserving of your own holiday gifts if you are so inclined. You can read more about all of them by (clicking here).
Oddly, the blog post soliciting votes for these groups was viewed almost 1200 times in the past week but only slightly more than 200 people voted in the poll. Not sure why somebody would read the post and not vote, but c'est la vie. Maybe it had something to do with Russian hacking or some other nefarious goings-on. Sad.
I will be making the donation to the to the Tisch Center as soon as I receive payment from Healthline.com, which is on its way. This past week I visited with Dr. Sadiq, the lead researcher of the Tisch MS Research Center, and he was extremely excited about the prospects for The Center's upcoming Phase 2 regenerative stem cell trial for MS patients, the first such trial to receive FDA approval. In preparation for the upcoming trial, The Center is about to start construction of the world's largest MS stem cell laboratory in the world, and is also about to publish the results of the first phase of the trial. The Phase 2 trial is currently scheduled to start in June, 2017. In addition to stem cell research, The Tisch Center is also delving into many other aspects of the MS mystery, and Dr. Sadiq had some very encouraging things to say about the whole of the Tisch Center's research efforts. He feels that his researchers are closer than ever before to unraveling some of the core mysteries of Multiple Sclerosis.
Not sure if I'll get a chance to put a post up next week, so let me take this opportunity to wish everybody a happy and healthy 2017. Here's hoping that the new year brings only good things to each and every one of us!
Thanks for reading Wheelchair Kamikaze, and for breathing life into this blog. My appreciation for all who visit these pages is beyond words…
Here's some Christmas cheer from The Godfather of Soul…
Marc, you are one of the people I'm most grateful for when it comes to MS insights, research, humor and attitude adjusting! Happy holidays to you!
ReplyDeleteI am glad you help with MS funds! I was so happy to hear progressive MS may have a med in the Spring. Happy Holidays to you!
ReplyDeleteThis is great news. It has restored my faith in democracy; Russia didn't hack this poll. Haha. Plus I think the 21st century Cures Act signed by President Obama will further hasten the use of stem cells to regenerate our brains.
ReplyDeleteWell I wasn't able to vote because I wasn't able to find where to vote. I just thought I was having some sort of cog fog so I just moved on without voting. I use my phone to read your blog. Perhaps voting wasn't mobile friendly. Idk, just a thought to explain the votes vs. page view discrepancies.
DeleteI also read the post regarding which organisation to donate the money to and was unable to find the vote button. Also, I usually read your posts on my phone,too,so maybe that was the reason.
ReplyDeleteIn any case,like you said, all your candidates were fine. I just made sure to vote a few times for your blog in the Healthline contestn, as I'm sure we all did. :) So happy you won 2nd place, you are a great writer and an inspiration to us all. Let's hope Tisch MS centre and Dr. Sadiq are onto something great.
Marc ..... you say "Thanks for reading Wheelchair Kamikaze, and for breathing life into this blog. My appreciation for all who visit these pages is beyond words…"
ReplyDeleteBut it is I who says... THANK YOU for sharing your blog with us. You are like a lifeline. It makes this journey a little more bearable. YOU are very much appreciated!
God Bless
Dee/OH