$63,958.72

Team Eye and Ear's 60 members have currently collectively raised $63,958.72 for the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary to help fund hope for those individuals suffering from eye, ear, nose, throat, head and neck disorders.

Way to go team!!! Our goal is $200,000. There are 3 months left for fundraising (you have until May 21, 2008 to get all of your fundraising money in)!!

Kick-Off Party!

Thank you to those who made it out to the kick-off party last night!

Here are some select photos from the evening.

Team Eye and Ear members with Bill Rodgers

Teammates Suzi Reynolds, Matt Benvenuti, and Peggy Kelley with Bill Rodgers

Team Eye and Ear member and MEEI OR Nurse, Peggy Kelley, with Bill Rodgers

Teammates Helen Drown and Mary Grzybinski

Teammates Emily Stear, Dana Brundage, and Danielle Dreger

Teammates Alexandria Papa and Alex Pierson

A few ways your sponsors can have a MAJOR impact...

Current Focus Project/Centers of Excellence:

• Hearing Preservation and Restoration: to preserve and to restore hearing using stem cells/new drugs and delivering them safely to the inner ear.
• Glaucoma Center of Excellence: to preserve vision of glaucoma patients through developing methods for earlier detection as well as new treatments, specific to each, individual and patient, and new patient programs for genetic screening and early diagnosis.
• Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgical Oncology Center of Excellence: to transform surgical care of patients with thyroid/parathyroid cancers by developing safer, better surgical techniques and devices, disseminating their adoption globally, and training future global leaders.
• Balance Center: to develop comprehensive, ame day diagnostic capabilities as well as treatment programs for each kind of balance problem, and new devices to help patients maintain stability.
• Tinnitus Center: to clinically characterize the different kinds of tinnitus and develop safe, effective treatments for them.

Here are a few ways your sponsors/donors can have a major impact in directly improving the lives of others. Invest in.....

• Hearing Research and hearing can be restored for millions within 20 years.
• Glaucoma Center of Excellence and functional vision can be preserved for millions of patients within 10-25 years.
• Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) Center of Excellence and functional vision can be improved for millions of patients within 5 - 20 years.
• Balance Center of Excellence and dizzy patients can get accurate diagnosis quickly and will get targeted treatment; new devices will help millions maintain balance, avoid falls, injuries.

You might be interested to know....

Some very interesting distinctions that Mass. Eye and Ear holds.
(Share some of these with your sponsors to help increase your fundraising efforts!)

Distinctions:

• The Eaton-Peabody Laboratory at MEEI is the largest basic hearing research center in the world.
• Discovery of the first heritable cancer gene, most of the genese idenrified in retinitis pigmentosa, and some glaucoma genes.
• Primary teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School in Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology.
• MEEI's residency training programs in Orolaryngology and Opthalmology are among the most selective in the U.S.
• Discovery of the role of VEGF in age-related macular degeneration (AMD), leading to the first two FDA-approved drugs for treating AMD.
• Discovery of stem cells in the adult inner ear, which increases the potential of hearing restoration.
• First diagnosis of retinopathy or prematurity.
• First eye pathology laboratory in the U.S.
• First use of isolation to segregate patients with infectious diseases.

For those of you in the Boston area..

I just found this on the Boston Marathon website. For those around the Boston area, the B.A.A. and Adidas offers monthly runs in and around Boston for anyone training for the 2008 Boston Marathon. The group runs feature presentations, guest appearances by adidas athletes, product give-aways, and refreshments.

Group Run #1: Thursday, January 31st
Time: 6:00 p.m., with refreshments from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.
Location: Boston Marathon Finish Line & CharlesMark Hotel (655 Boylston Street)
Group Run #2: Thursday, February 28th
Time: 6:00 p.m., with refreshments from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.
Location: Boston Marathon Finish Line & CharlesMark Hotel (655 Boylston Street)
Group Run #3: Thursday, March 27th
Time: 6:00 p.m., with refreshments from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.
Location: Boston Marathon Finish Line & CharlesMark Hotel(655 Boylston Street)
Group Run #4: Thursday, April 10th
Time: 6:00 p.m., with refreshments from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.
Location: Boston Marathon Finish Line & CharlesMark Hotel(655 Boylston Street)

For more information, click here.

If anyone has done this in the past and has reviews of the program, feel free to leave comments for your fellow team mates.