Please Vote for Tay-Sachs Research

Imagine being a young child with a degenerative disease that deprives you the ability to do everything you do--swallowing, blinking, seeing, moving--as it shuts down your body. In addition, you have seizures, and a chronic/weakened respiratory system and you have a compromised immune system which means you are prone to catch every little germ that comes near you. You have Tay-Sachs Disease (TSD), and it's likely you won't live to see your fifth birthday.

Elise Ten Berge is a little girl who has this disease, and her mom, Laurie, works hard to educate others about the disease and to promote research into treating it.

Laurie says there are several research initiatives underway around the country (Boston College and Harvard and Duke universities) that show promise in treating or curing TSD and other degenerative diseases. Research requires funding though.

So Laurie asks that American Express card holders take a no-cost step to support funding. "Through the American Express Members Project, the CURETAYSACHS project could receive up to $5 million for research. That would be very significant! It is a long shot, but it’s worth a try," Laurie says.

Visit www.membersproject.com and search for project 3504 in the upper right hand corner search box. If you are an AmEx card holder, you will need to sign in by creating a screen name and a password. Then, look for the orange box at the top left, where you can rate (with five stars, please) the CURETAYSACHS project. It’s also important that you post a comment as to why curing Tay-Sachs is important. This phase of the AmEx Members Project will continue until June 17. At that point, all the projects submitted will be narrowed down to 50 finalists.

Laurie says: "It is too late for a treatment or cure for Elise, but we are hoping to help out the other children who will be diagnosed in the future. We can make this happen. Please be sure to let your friends and family know about this great opportunity. Tell them about Elise and put a face to the disease by forwarding them her website."