Countdown to Glory: 8 to go

THE COUNTDOWN CONTINUES. 8 DAYS TO GLORY!!!

Eight is Enough. And I've had enough of this plateau on our team site. The pledged contributions came in great at the beginning, and nobody's been writing me to get me to stop sending these emails, but we've slowed down way too much - right when we should be kicking in as a sprint to the finish.

I've also had enough of the pain that arthritis and arthritis-related diseases cause. We can make a difference in the lives of millions of people: by contributing to the Arthritis Foundation you'll support cutting edge research seeking a cure and with every person that joins TEAM 33 we raise awareness. It would be the best thing in the world if you HELP PUT ME OUT OF A JOB. Seriously. I'd gladly find something else to do if more than 47 million Americans didn't have to live in pain thanks to a cure.

So let me talk, somewhat cryptically about the number 8. Cryptic, because I appreciate privacy. The number 8 was worn by a star baseball player from the 1970s. A Hall of Famer who was named to multiple all-star games and once named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year. After retirement, he lived in Atlanta for a while. I was lucky enough to meet his daughter-in-law and two of his grandchildren early in March at the Arthritis Foundation's Advocacy Summit in Washington, DC. Their family has been affected by Arthritis in ways that I could not have imagined. The ballplayer's son, a veteran of the first Gulf War, had recently been diagnosed with severe osteoarthritis (for which veterans are specifically at-risk). That's tough, but not like the grandkids: three diagnoses of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

You may not know much about JA, so let me offer some background. JA is a chronic inflammation of the joints, muscles, ligaments and bones, and can also affect numerous internal organs. Around 300,000 kids nationwide have a form of JA, but thousands may be undiagnosed because JA can be incredibly difficult to spot (because it can appear in numerous ways and because it's hard to get good information from children). It's likely a genetic disease, and that's where a lot of the recent research has been devoted. JA is chronic: the pain never goes away. It's not like a bad knee that acts up only when the weather is bad. There isn't a cure (yet), only pain management - and when you're dealing with children, that means a longer period of time to manage pain. And it's not easy to manage pain in joints - most methods include various doses of steroids (which can wreak havoc on immune systems and internal organs) and joint replacement. I met an 11 year old girl at the same summit with two replaced hips. She knows very well that they won't be her last. It's heartbreaking to hear about how this disease affects kids - kids who've had this terrible disease imposed upon them just because of bad luck. I met a six year old in a wheelchair because of JA. I met a 7 year old who talked about how he had to give up every sport he played because of the joint pain, and when he couldn't play sports he tried playing the guitar, but now the joints in his hand are starting to hurt too. These are little kids who want to be like everyone else, but who are prevented from doing what everyone else does because of this disease.

So back to our famous ballplayer's family. Three kids diagnosed with JA. And beyond the physical and emotional pain, there's real-world struggles that JA brings with it. Pain medication isn't cheap. Three kids with JA means hundreds of dollars a month in co-payments for doctors appointments and prescription drug payments (and they have insurance). It's not easy to cover all those bills with one kid in college and two on the way very soon. But this family doesn't give up - they fight the disease by pushing harder. The two kids I met were incredibly brilliant. JA has affected them physically and financially, but it's toughened them psychologically, and driven them to work harder and succeed in school. The eldest is on scholarship in college. The next eldest is on track for the Ivy League. The youngest looks like he already belongs in a People Magazine article about a 17 year old who wins an election for Mayor or something. They're great kids - kids who are doing the right thing because they have a mother who showed them that their challenges make them stronger.

These kids didn't deserve a chronic disease that makes every morning a struggle to uncoil themselves just to get out of bed. They didn't deserve nights when they had to choose which kid would get to take the medicine. They didn't deserve anything about JA. And they haven't let it get the best of them either. These are the kind of kids I think of when I think of a cure. I don't want another generation of kids in wheelchairs, or using crutches their whole life. I don't want to hear about kids getting their second set of replacement hips before they can drive. I don't want to see the exhaustion in their parents' eyes, or the misdirected hint from some of these parents that they did something to cause this. I've had enough of it.

And we're not entirely behind the 8 ball here. We're making strides every day - working with brilliant researchers at top institutions, with the government and with the pharmaceutical industry to get closer every day to a cure. We're working with thousands of volunteers to make every day a little less painful. We're getting closer. JOIN TEAM 33 and help us solve this.

Back to the goofiness, briefly:

8 jerseys: Steve Young, Archie Manning, Kobe Bryant (for a while), Iron Man Cal Ripken, Yogi Berra, Alexi Ovechkin, Cam Neeley, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Andres Iniesta (for Barca), Xavi Hernandez (for Spain).

8 pop culture: Eight Men Out was an excellent baseball movie. Hard Eight was an undercooked debut film by P.T. Anderson. "Eight Crazy Nights" was a bad movie based on Adam Sandler's Hanukkah song, which sometime in the last decade went from being funny itself to being sort of smile-inducing nostalgic and not really funny at all on its own merits. 8 Seconds was the very best rodeo movie starring Luke Perry ever made. "Jon and Kate Plus 8" and the subsequent celebrity status of its stars is just one more reason why either the Mayans were right and we're on our way out or why the Chinese are going to act soon to prevent us from ruining all of the collateral for their loans (or both).

8 government: Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment and excessive bail. The eighth president was Martin Van Buren, who, ironically to some current candidates for Alabama governor, was both the first President actually born a United States citizen and the only President not to speak English as his first language (he spoke Dutch). Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution provides for the powers of Congress - and forms the basis for many constitutional challenges to legislation.

And finally, like Paul and John said, "eight days a week/is not enough to show I care."

So show you care, and it'll only take a few seconds - Join TEAM 33. If you can join us for the Walk at Atlantic Station on May 22, please do! Bring your friends and family, including dogs. If you can't come, you can still join TEAM 33 or contribute in any way you'd like. AND YOU CAN SPREAD THE WORD! For more information on joining TEAM 33 or contributing, please follow the link below:

http://www.kintera.org/faf/r.asp?t=4&i=312420&u=312420-211716341

Join TEAM 33. Sign up. Spread the word to your friends and family. Join us at the walk. Give a few bucks for a great cause. Eat super turkey legs, take every woman in England to bed, and just look awesomely rotund like Henry VIII. And we'll have cake.

And visit http://team33arthritiswalk.blogspot.com/ for more.

If you have any questions about how incredibly awesome TEAM 33 is, give me a call or send me an email. Thanks again!