Watertown Disability Leader Selected for MDA National Achievement Award

TUCSON, Ariz., Sept. 4, 2001 - George Donahue of Watertown, Mass., has been named recipient of the Muscular Dystrophy Association's National Personal Achievement Award for 2002.

Photography by Ed MacKinnon George Donahue teaches young friends that his wheelchair is "a tool and not a toy."

The national award, which recognizes the achievements and community involvement of people affected by neuromuscular diseases, was announced during the national broadcast of the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon Sept. 2-3.

Donahue, 46, was chosen for the national honor from among statewide winners across the country.

Donahue is a senior help desk analyst with Stride Rite Corp. in Lexington, Mass. He's also a longtime advocate for, and mentor to, people with disabilities in the Greater Boston community.

"George's generosity in giving of himself to benefit his community and in improving the lives of people with disabilities sets an example for all of us," MDA President Robert Ross said. "He vividly demonstrates the strengths and gifts that people with neuromuscular diseases offer to society."

At age 23, Donahue first visited an MDA clinic and learned that he had Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease, a disorder of the peripheral nerves that causes progressive muscle weakness and loss of sensation in the extremities. He uses a manual wheelchair to assist with mobility.

CMT is one of more than 40 neuromuscular diseases in MDA's program.

Over the years of living with a progressively disabling disease, he's continued to pursue his career and to become increasingly involved in efforts to assist people with disabilities in his community.

Donahue is a member of the Watertown Commission on Disability and of a voluntary organization called Partners for Youth with Disabilities. As a leader of the latter's Youth in Preparation for Independence program, he serves as a mentor to young people with various disabilities and as an adviser for the Young Entrepreneurs Project. Two of the students he's assisted have started their own businesses, and both are now mentors to other young people.

Also an active volunteer leader of MDA, Donahue has served as president of the Association's Greater Boston Chapter and as a member of both the MDA National Task Force on Public Awareness and its Massachusetts task force. He's also appeared on the local broadcast of the MDA Telethon many times and has volunteered at MDA summer camp.

This spring, he met with and cheered on a Boston Marathon team jointly sponsored by Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and CITGO. The team ran to benefit MDA.

Each of MDA's 150-plus chapters selected an achievement award recipient from local nominees this year. Donahue received the award from MDA's Northeastern Massachusetts Chapter and was then chosen for the state award from among all local honorees in Massachusetts.

Last year's National Personal Achievement Award went to Jan Blaustone of Nashville, Tenn. An author, educator and consultant, Blaustone serves on MDA's National Task Force on Public Awareness and is a member of its steering committee. She also is an artist whose work is on display as part of the MDA Art Collection.

MDA is a voluntary health agency working to defeat neuromuscular disease through programs of worldwide research, comprehensive services, and far-reaching professional and public health education. MDA maintains four clinics serving Boston area children and adults with neuromuscular diseases.

The MDA Telethon originated from CBS Television City in Hollywood was carried by nearly 200 "Love Network" stations nationwide, including Boston's WCVB-TV. It was simulcast on MDA's Web site, www.mda.org, hosted by AT&T and RealNetworks.