On Saturday I will be participating in a charity blog hop for 7000 Bracelets of Hope. First of all a blog hop, organized by the lovely inimitable Lori Anderson, is a blogging event where all participants post a blog entry on a particular subject on a certain date.
The 7000 Bracelets of Hope is a charity event organized by The Global Genes Projects whose mission is to raise awareness about the need for research and education on rare diseases, especially those that inflict children.
The object of the charity is to make an adult size bracelet in a predominantly blue colour that will be sent to one of the 7000 families whose children are suffering from any kind of rare disease.
So why am I participating, for no I nor any member of my family or friends is suffering from a rare disease? First of all: I may not know rare disease but I do know disease in general. Those who know me or read my blog will know that I have just survived the Winter from Hell with an ear infection so resilient it took me a good three months to recover. So I know disease and I know pain.
The thought that kept me going during these three months was the conviction that this will eventually pass. Reading about the Bracelets of Hope got me thinking about all the people that don't have the same luxury as I did. Their condition is permanent and they have to live with it every day. Every day! With a myriad of complications that grossly reduce their quality of living. Chronic pain is a daily companion to most of them.
And these people are children! The ones we desperately try to protect from all the harm and harshness of the world. And yet in this case we are helpless. Our hopes lie in researching these diseases, putting pressure on the proper authorities to ensure the research is actually carried out and raising awareness about this issue. So that we may never have to hear: "This could have been prevented if we had only known!"
Maybe I got your post wrong, but is it the meaning, that all or only one bracelet is sent to one of the 7000 families, where there is a child suffering from a rare disease?
ReplyDeleteOr do you mean that all the 7000 bracelets are sold in a charity event, and the money received, is then sent to be divided between the 7000 families?
I was given to understand the bracelets go to the families, one bracelet per family. I also checked out The Global Genes website and saw that they do have some jewellery that was being auctioned off.
ReplyDeleteIn all honesty I don't care either way, whether they sell it and divide the money or give the braceltes to the families. Each of this methods serves the same purpose: to raize awareness about genetic defects and illnesses that could have been prevented with proper research.