We enjoyed visiting families affected by microcephaly at The FCM Convention in Phoenix, Arizona, June 2012.

Maddie, Sarah, and Abigail

Phoenix, AZ - June 14-18, 2012
With your help, we raised over $1,500 to send Maddie to Convention for The Foundation for Children with Microcephaly in Phoenix, Arizona. There, we met with top, leading physicians practicing in the field of microcephaly; specifically Dr. Dobyns, Dr. Glass, and Dr. Paskowski. We met many families who are affected by this neurological brain disorder, microcephaly, and some related disorders Lissencephaly, Polymicrogyria (PMG).

Maddie enjoyed so much visiting with her newfound friends there such as Abigail, Sarah, Kaylee, Keera, Louis, Justin, Anika, Lukas, Luke, Brady, Jaycee, Delaney, Cameron, Rilee, and so many more. Maddie's parents and grandmother were excited to meet with other parents and grandparents and hear their stories from the heart. It seems like yesterday that Maddie was brought home from the hospital and we were told she might not make her first birthday. Fortunately, we learned that doctors really are just practicing. Maddie is 11 years old.

With Maddie being eleven, we were able to give other parents hope for their children who are just two and three years old right now. When we attended the convention for the first time in 2010, we were given hope by some of the older children and young adults there as well.  While some children have a more severe disorder associated with their microcephaly than others, these families are all just looking for coping strategies and answers to hard questions.  The FCM Convention does this for families.

It takes a village to raise a child without a disability; it takes YOUR HELP to get a village of people who can relate and connect in order to raise a child with a disability. 

Please help by donating to FCM at www.microcephaly.org.

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