This past weekend Jared and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. We got all dressed up, and headed to the Sheraton in Framingham with 8 members of our family. We were attending the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation’s Strong Bones Gala Boston — an event to raise awareness for OI.
A table was reserved for our party. It was truly a wonderful evening and very informative. Of course because I have OI, this event was very special to me.
The goal of the evening was to raise $50,000 to fund a study on heart research for people with OI. Very important stuff. I actually have tachycardia, and I’m really unsure if it’s related to my OI or not.
The Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation operates with only a handful of people. You hear of these much larger organizations raising millions of dollars, and yet it seems like we’re still struggling to raise proper awareness for OI.
Honestly, $50,000 is not a lot of money when you’re talking about a research study. I am very happy to say I believe that goal was met that evening. But I still feel like we should all be doing so much more.
My family was all very supportive which meant the world to me. Aside from their monetary contributions, they participated in the silent auction and casino games that were held. But honestly, just having them celebrate the evening with me was the best.
I am looking forward to next years event, and I’m hoping to get more involved with the foundation. I feel I need to do my part to raise as much awareness for OI as I can.
In fact, we’re already talking about attending next years National Conference. It would be great to bring Lincoln and Avery — and to just get more involved with the OI community.
It’s funny, because when I was younger I really didn’t want ANY attention brought on by my disability. I just wanted to be seen like everyone else. Although that is still important to me, I think it is also important to bring OI into the spotlight a bit — otherwise, how can we expect people to be more aware?
I’m hoping to share more about Osteogenesis Imperfecta on my blog. I have this platform, and what better way to use it than to bring awareness to something close to my heart?
For starters, I’m asking you — Do you know what Osteogenesis Imperfecta is? Find out more information here and help me by simply making yourself aware of this condition. That’s really the first step!
To make your own contribution to the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation, please click here.
What a great cause. I only ever read about this here on your blog and in a Jodi Picot book where one of the characters had this condition. I am amazed that you raised that much actually. I work with a charity here on a volunteer basis and sit on the board and I know how hard it is to raise money for these causes and events! Wow – also love the casino games idea. We never thought of that!