Dr. Appel, Singer McGovern Named to MDAs Board

	Stanley Appel

Longtime MDA leaders Stanley Appel and Maureen McGovern were elected to MDAs Board of Directors during the Associations recent annual meeting in Los Angeles.

Appel, professor and chairman of the Neurology Department at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, is director of the Ronny & Linda Finger MDA/ALS Center and the Vicki Appel Neuromuscular Clinic (named for Appels late wife). Appel served on MDAs Scientific Advisory Committee from 1991 to 1999, and is now a member of MDAs Medical Advisory Committee.

Maureen McGovern

Appel has also served as a national MDA vice president since 1989, and has made numerous appearances on the national broadcast of the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon.

Multitalented singer, composer, actress and recording artist Maureen McGovern has been a national MDA vice president since 1988. After her first appearance on the MDA Telethon in 1979, McGovern became a Telethon mainstay, performing on the national stage or via remote while co-hosting local segments in Chicago and New York. She also serves as chairperson of MDAs national Shamrocks Against Dystrophy campaign.

	Robert M. Bennett

Also during the meeting, Robert M. Bennett of Los Angeles was elected to a ninth one-year term as chairman of the Board. Other key lay leaders who were re-elected include: Jerry Lewis, national chairman; Robert Ross, president & CEO; Gerald C. Weinberg, senior vice president; Lois R. West, chairperson of the Executive Committee; Victor Wright, treasurer; and Timmi Masters, secretary.

30th MDA/ALS Center Opens in Columbus

MDA has designated Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus as the site of its newest MDA/ALS Center.

The centers are focal points in MDAs programs of medical care and research on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrigs disease). The OSU facility is the 30th such center nationwide.

Operating under the direction of OSU College of Medicine and Public Health neurologists John Kissel and Steven Nash, the new center offers a multidisciplinary team approach to ALS treatment. In addition to clinical services, the Columbus team also conducts ongoing ALS research.

 

Holiday Wishing

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Its that time of year again — time to start making holiday plans. With the 2003 MDA Holiday Wishes card set, you can share the MDA message with those on your greeting card list. This years Holiday Wishes Collection features six artworks by artists of all ages who have neuromuscular diseases.

To ensure the best selection, please order your cards without imprinting by Dec. 5. The deadline for ordering cards with customized imprinting is Nov. 7.

MDA is already looking for artworks to be considered for next years card set, from spiritual themes (Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa) to festive winter scenes. To enter artwork for submission, send a color photograph, slide or photocopy to MDA Community Programs, Holiday Wishes Collection, 3300 E. Sunrise Drive, Tucson, AZ 85718-3299. If you need more information, call (800) 572-1717, or visit www.mda.org/commprog/art.

American Express Again to Boost Telethon Donations

MDA national sponsor American Express will support the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon by adding an extra $5 donation to MDA for each phoned-in pledge thats made by using the American Express charge card.

AMEX is also repeating its program allowing cardholders to turn their Membership Rewards points into cash for MDA. To find out more, call (800) AXP-EARN [(800) 297-3276] or visit www.americanexpress.com.

Writer, MDA Leader Asa Baber Dies of ALS

Asa Baber

Last years Telethon featured Chicago writer and MDA National Vice President Asa Baber reading his column "Lou Gehrig and Me," published in the June 2002 issue of Playboy. Baber spoke of his longtime admiration for the legendary New York Yankee, with whom Baber shared both a birthday —June 19 — and ALS, the disease that bears Gehrigs name.

On June 16 — just three days before the 100th anniversary of Gehrigs birth — ALS claimed Babers life, too. Baber would have turned 67.

Babers Playboy column, "Men," ran from 1982 until this year. In his farewell column in June, Baber wrote: "I am here to urge you to be a little more brave, a tad more courageous and self-controlled, and to take some private time to contemplate the mysteries of the universe and ask yourself how you plan to spend whatever time you have left."

Meet Christa Bucks Camacho

Christa Bucks Camacho taught arts and crafts, literacy and recreation at a school reinforcement program while serving in the Peace Corps in Paraguay..

Making a difference in the world broadening her horizons trying what others say is impossible

Christa Bucks Camacho has never taken a narrow view of the world. At 31, shes traveled to more than a dozen countries, lived in other countries, learned several languages, edited a book, served in the Peace Corps, worked for a federal agency, become a sought-after public speaker and more.

Bucks Camacho was raised in Arizona in a home that frequently hosted foreign students. After earning a degree in international studies and Spanish at Meredith College in Raleigh, N.C., where she lived in an international dorm, she set out to see some more of the world.

Back home, Christa Bucks Camacho (left) and her mother, Betsy Bucks, a former Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia, talk with former Peace Corps Director Jack Vaughn.

A wheelchair user since childhood because of spinal muscular atrophy, Bucks wanted to live in another culture where she could use her Spanish and her skills in working with youth. She applied to the Peace Corps.

After completing the application, she underwent a battery of disability-related questions. While waiting for her acceptance she worked for Mobility International USA, researching and editing the 1997 edition of A World of Options, MIUSAs exhaustive guide to international exchange and travel for people with disabilities.

Flexibility

In 1996, she began a 27-month stay in Paraguay as an urban youth volunteer with the Peace Corps. In Fernando de la Mora, she found a first-floor apartment that suited her needs — except for the front step. She soon got to know the workers building a new sewage system in her neighborhood, and, with a few suggestions from her, they put a little bit more cement here and there, creating a ramp.

In Paraguay, Bucks Camacho learned a lot about emphasizing flexibility in her definition of independence.

"Is independence always being able to do something for myself?" she wondered. "That is a very American view of independence.

"I came to realize that it wasnt necessary that I did it by myself, but that I accomplished a goal either with assistive technology or through human assistance. I redefined independence to include enlisting assistance from others."

For example, when making the one-hour trip each day to a summer camp she was helping to run, shed ask those around to help her get on and off the bus. Children playing in the plaza across from the bus terminal were happy to push her over unpaved streets to the camp if she needed additional assistance.

By building networks of friends and acquaintances, she accomplished everything she wanted to, including traveling through Paraguay and to neighboring countries.

"You have to be creative," Bucks Camacho said of adapting to life in a different culture, especially if you have a disability. "Its about a positive attitude and a willingness to adapt — and a willingness to think about how to get over physical barriers when you have to."

Sharing Resources

While in Paraguay, her primary assignment was working with youth, but she also encountered adults with questions about disability resources. She shared material from home with many eager people.

After two years, Bucks Camacho returned to the United States, settling in Ellicott City, Md. Her commitment to working with young people led to her current position as Youth and Transition Coordinator with the Social Security Administration. She helps ensure educational and employment opportunities for youth with disabilities — and encourages young people to take advantage of international exchange opportunities.

As a public speaker, she frequently shares her stories of how people with disabilities work, volunteer and study around the world. She and her husband, Jose Camacho, whom she met in Paraguay, share his countrys culture with friends in the United States.

She earned MDAs 1999 Personal Achievement Award for Maryland.

"People with disabilities have an important role to play in the international community," Bucks Camacho believes. "Far too often people with disabilities ignore how they can contribute."

For more information about MIUSA, visit www.miusa.org; call (541) 343-1284; or e-mail info@miusa.org.