Comments on: It’s MDA Telethon Time Again!!

By: Wheelchairs

Wheelchairs — Fri, 27 May 2011 05:44:00 +0000

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By: This Is All You Need To Know About This Year’s MDA Telethon | Nick's Crusade

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 22:36:49 +0000

[...] of disability all year. But I usually focus on the help the MDA does and doesn’t provide, and how misleading the Telethon is about what they do for us “Jerry’s [...]

By: Jamie Dupree

Jamie Dupree — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 06:30:00 +0000

facebook-843294189 said “They're not trying to cure MD because the presence of disability makes the able-bodied uncomfortable. They're trying to cure it because it kills.” Sometimes I wonder if their PR team knows that.

By: Jamie Dupree

Jamie Dupree — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 23:30:00 +0000

By: NickDupree

NickDupree — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:08:30 +0000

How is it possible for MDA to provide a wheelchair "100%" when they only pay $2000 for this? (I think it used to be more)
Either you got very inexpensive wheelchairs, they also billed Medicaid, or there is a way to get additional aid from MDA I'm unaware of.

As for a cure, I'm acutely aware of the need for treatments and cures, but lost faith in that happening after Jerry Lewis said on the 1986 Telethon (that I appeared on) that "with your support, we'll cure this disease in FIVE YEARS!"
Five years have come and gone, people are still dying in droves, of the diseases and of lack of help.

By: facebook-843294189

facebook-843294189 — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:06:14 +0000

It sounds like there are some crooked local offices which are not complying with national MDA policies, but your experience is quite different from mine. I went to camp, free, for ten years and have had two wheelchairs provided 100% by MDA. I give when I can, and will continue to do so, because those weeks I spent at camp were some of the best times of my life and led to too many lifelong friendships to count. If in my lifetime I can donate enough to send just one kid to camp to have those same experiences, it will be worth it. And research is important, too. They're not trying to cure MD because the presence of disability makes the able-bodied uncomfortable. They're trying to cure it because it kills. I've lost too many people I cared about deeply and never want it to happen again.

By: adawg

adawg — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 07:14:41 +0000

Avrred

By: Ruth E Belasco

Ruth E Belasco — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 06:48:42 +0000

We all have moments that we will always recall because they were so embarrassing. One of my such memories is when I was manning a telephone during a Telethon during the 80s and the host wandered up to me to talk about my sons Nick and Jamie – or so I thought. What he asked me about was something else. He said something like “and these services are given to your sons Nick and Jamie without regard of your ability to pay and your insurance, right?” I froze, because MDA always billed the boys' insurance first. There I was on television, being asked to support something that wasn't true. If I said, “no, MDA bills our insurance first”, then I was contradicting something put forth by MDA through out the entire Telethon. After a pause, I said “right” and the host wandered off to interview someone else, probably assuming that I had stage fright. I've been haunted by the lie ever since.

By: codeman38

codeman38 — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:52:17 +0000

This sounds a lot like Autism Speaks, at least from what I've seen: as "Cat in a Dog's World" points out, most of their focus is on research or 'awareness' campaigns, but they make it sound in those campaigns as if they're helping people in the here and now. And as an adult autistic, this is very frustrating indeed.