CEO David M. Hall Urges Members and Supporters to Meet 350K Challenge

November 17, 2009

Dear Friends,

CEO David M. Hall

What a year 2009 has been for the CMTA and for CMT patients and families across the country! Never before has the CMTA been blessed with more members (4011) than we have today; never before have more Support Groups (43) existed across the country providing invaluable assistance to patients, families, and clinicians; never before have more world-class scientists been focused on finding treatments and cures for CMT; and never before have we been more optimistic that those scientists will find those treatments soon!

What this demonstrates is that together we can provide not only the hope that treatments will be available through our STAR research program, but also focus on the real challenges and issues of today that all CMT patients and families must live with. Maintaining this balance is core to our mission at the CMTA.

We will not rest, however, until all this changes. Having hope and making commitments sounds good and is good. But it is not enough. STAR is a world-class research program that is focused on finding drugs to treat CMT … we need STAR to find those treatments now. Our national Support Group program helps families with a variety of health-related matters … we need strong, multi-disciplinary clinical programs devoted to CMT patients now. The only way we can do this is with your help. More so than ever, we need to grow the financial support of both STAR and our patient advocacy programs.

The CMTA is fortunate to be led by a Board of Directors that has financially supported the mission of the CMTA. For the second year in a row, the CMTA Board has offered a challenge to the membership of the CMTA to match every dollar contributed to the CMTA, up to $350,000. Those are funds we simply cannot afford to lose.

Last year, the CMTA membership exceeded the Board Challenge Grant by contributing $362,153, making it our most successful fundraising campaign ever! With your financial support, we can exceed that number this year and truly make 2009 a year to remember.

To read a report that summarizes many of our current programs, most notably STAR, please click here. After reading it, I know you’ll understand why I am so excited about the future of the CMTA, and I hope you will click here and do what you can to support our work. Your contribution, doubled by the CMTA Board Challenge Grant, can make a difference like never before.

Please contact me if you have any questions, and thank you again for all you do for the CMTA.

Sincerely,

David M. Hall
Chief Executive Officer