I am full of gratitude, every day of the year, for the amazing support and friendship that has allowed CURE to grow and thrive. It’s really impossible to know where to begin.

My mind goes first to our many donors–who come in all shapes and sizes, and also include very special, talented, and generous in-kind donors who allow so much of the money we raise to be invested in the research so urgently needed. There are the scientists and clinicians who lend their expertise in so many vital ways to help guide our efforts. We have a fabulous and passionate Board of Directors. Our grantees and all of their research associates who have dedicated their careers to seeking the answers for our patients–keep up the great work!

We were so blessed this year with editors and producers and writers from Parade, Newsweek, and “60 Minutes” who were so brilliant, so supportive, and became such strong fellow advocates–what an amazing year for epilepsy. Many of you hosted fundraising events and “60 Minutes” viewing parties around the country, and we are so grateful for your involvement.

And then there’s our dedicated, passionate, and incredibly hard-working staff at CURE who always lift me up with their generous spirits. They are nothing short of amazing.

Someday, once we’ve cured epilepsy, I dream of sitting back and writing an entire book on the people from the unexpected walks of life that I’ve had the privilege of meeting through this work, and without whom we wouldn’t be where we are today. I’m looking forward to that day!

On Thanksgiving day, I will be with my whole family, and I am so grateful for the increasingly rare chance to be together. And, with deep appreciation and understanding, people with epilepsy and their loved ones will be present in my thoughts, including those we have lost to this disease. All of us are in this together, desperate for answers.

Thanksgiving 08

Each Thanksgiving as I’m cooking our turkey, I flash back to the year Lauren was on the ketogenic diet and I took great pride (and time and effort!) in preparing an entire ketogenic Thanksgiving meal for her–pumpkin cheesecake included! I also can’t help but flash back to those many Thanksgivings during her childhood that were interrupted by seizures and feel blessed that her seizures are–at least for now and for some time now–responding to treatment. I never take a single seizure-free day for granted.

It’s been an amazing year. Epilepsy and our struggles are now out in the open like they never have been before. But we can’t stop now–we have to continue to change the status quo and to finally make a significant difference in the lives of so many.

This is truly our time–I feel it strongly. Thank you for all you have done to help bring us to this point, but let’s not let this moment in the history of epilepsy pass. We all must continue to share our stories, insist that they be heard, raise the dollars, and keep the focus on the research that can truly change and save lives!

With much appreciation, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Last night, I sat in on a conference call to finalize our selections for our new Innovator Award. Lately, it seems, I’ve been busy every time these scientific meetings have taken place, so I was thrilled to have a few hours to sit back, listen in, and be in awe of all the hard work that’s taking place on the part of CURE staff, determined applicants, and dedicated volunteer scientific reviewers!

The Innovator Award is a new research grant we just initiated this year to jump-start out-of-the-box (even outrageous!) new concepts that could potentially help pave the path toward a cure. I was thrilled by the feedback from our volunteer scientific reviewers, and energized by our final award selections, which will be announced at the American Epilepsy Society meeting the first week of December in Boston. Stay tuned!

And remember–we can’t do this without all of your help!

Simply put, the more you give, the more grants like this we can fund. Our Every Dollar Counts/Every Seizure Matters campaign is moving along–as of today, we’ve raised $72,751. A little over a month to go to raise $250,000 for the Friends for a Cure Research Award by the end of ’09. We can do this! Please give whatever you can to help us reach this goal, and get all of your friends and family to contribute as well!

Neva Hirschkorn and me

I was invited to San Francisco by Neva Hirschkorn, who is the Executive Director of the Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California, to speak at her gala last Friday. She is doing such great work out there, and it was wonderful to see her after many years. I first met Neva, whose 20-year-old son has been severely impacted by epilepsy, before we even began CURE! It reminded me of how strong the bond of parenting a child with epilepsy is–we were able to step right back into our friendship as if no time at all had passed. We shared heartbreak and we shared laughs–as if we had been leading these parallel lives that nobody outside our world knows about.  Slowly but surely, others outside our world are beginning to understand the challenges and potential devastation of this disease–but the only way we’re going to really reach people is if we all start sharing our stories. We can do this… we can raise public consciousness and we can’t waste any more time–we need to make the most of this amazing time for epilepsy.

I can’t tell you how many families, friends, and colleagues I continue to hear from about the “60 Minutes” segment. It’s amazing. I’ve also heard from so many epilepsy doctors and researchers who are equally excited to have had such prominent play for the disease on which they have focused their careers.

Frances Jensen, MD, who was featured in “60 Minutes,” sent me this picture of herself with her research associates and Katie Couric, taken during the filming at Harvard. As Katie told me after her visit there, those researchers are the “unsung heroes.”

Frances Jensen, MD and her research associates with Katie Couric

She’s so right. We owe them huge debts of gratitude for everything they’re doing in their labs and clinics to find answers for our loved ones.

Please don’t forget to help us support them in their critically important work by donating to our Every Dollar Counts campaign today!

And stay tuned next week for exciting news about a generous matching grant that’s on its way… every dollar will be doubled. Visit again early next week to see the big announcement!