For the 4th straight year, we’ll be using the First Four games as a little friendly competition for charity. For every entry (1 per person but it’s free so invite your significant other or friends and family), I’ll personally donate $2 to a charity. This year, we’ll be helping a fellow participant (Eric F) raise money to cover his friend’s enormous medical costs due to the effects of chronic Lyme disease, which if you don’t know you have it, is hard to detect and treat early. The Friends of Renee committee (mission statement below) helps bring awareness of Lyme disease, which is the fastest growing infectious disease in the United States. I remember going on a hike in Sequoia National Park and my wife’s sister was warning us about ticks. I thought it’s just a bug bite, but she pointed out they carry diseases such as Lyme disease and I never thought of hiking in forests the same way again.
Last year, $103 was donated (odd number due to additional donations by generous people) to MathCounts. In 2012, $83 was donated to the American Cancer Society. In 2011, $100 was donated to the American Red Cross for the tsunami and earthquake relief. It’s easy to enter. Just comment to this post or send an email to scott(at)hwci.com with the 4 First Four winners and the winning margin. Example: Albany wins by 4 points, Texas Southern by 15 pts, Xavier by 1 pt, and Iowa by 8 pts. Simple. Here are the First Four matchups (deadline 3:40 pm PDT Tuesday):
#16S Albany vs Mt. St. Mary's
#16MW Cal Poly SLO vs Texas Southern
#12MW NC State vs Xavier
#11MW Iowa vs Tennessee
MISSION – FRIENDS OF RENEE FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE
The Friends of Renee formed in December of 2011 to help our friend Renee Avis, of Redondo Beach, to gather donations and organize fundraisers to pay for her out-of-pocket medical bills not covered by health insurance, which amount to roughly $2,500-$3,000 per month. Her expenses include specialists, home nurses, physical therapy, IV antibiotics, and IV supplies. As of December 2013, approximately $44,000 has been raised thru donations and fundraisers.
Renee suffers from chronic Lyme disease, which means she had it for a long time without treating it. This is because she, like nearly all chronic Lyme patients, caught the disease unknowingly, and therefore did not treat it early enough. In the early stage, a series of antibiotic treatments, which have a relatively high (but not 100%) success rate, would likely have eliminated Lyme and other “co-diseases” she also contracted from the same bug bite. There is a lack of awareness about the widespread existence and impact of Lyme disease, especially in California. Many people don’t realize that a bug bite suffered on a hike could lead to the transmission of Lyme and several co-diseases that can derail one’s health and financial stability!
In the process of raising medical treatment funds, The Friends of Renee are raising awareness of Lyme disease, which is the fastest growing infectious disease in the United States. There are an estimated 300,000 new Lyme infections every year in the US; this is six times the rate of new HIV cases! Do yourself a favor: read the summary and links in the “Education” section of our website www.reneeavisstory.webstarts.com to learn more about how you, our friends, and loved ones can avoid getting Lyme disease, or at least how to detect it early enough to save you hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills and years of pain and suffering!