This is not one of my usual blog posts... It's an appeal, a desperate plea for a little help to make a small change towards solving a difficult problem.
Jenna Lowe is my age, went to a school that I know well and have many friends at, and is a close friend to several of my friends, so while I don't even know her personally, it doesn't matter, because she needs a hand here, and so I thought, the only other thing I could do on top of sharing the links and what not on every form of social media I have, was to blog about it. Because maybe, even if it's just one of you who hears about this trust, we can actually contribute to making a change.
Before I go into too much detail here, let me tell you the problem. Jenna has Pulmonary Hypertension, and while I really don't know the specifics, it's basically a degenerative disease that blocks up the arteries to your lungs, and can make it very hard to breathe, it mostly leads to heart failure, particularly without treatment to slow down the process. One main issue with this, is that it is virtually unheard of, particularly here is South Africa. If you are interested in the more medical side of the disease and the signs and symptoms and so on, you can read here or here. It took Jenna ages to be finally diagnosed with this because it is so rare. She now has to face the really traumatic and life-changing event of needing a lung transplant, but before this can even happen, she needs a good set of healthy lungs that are a match.
So, why am I writing to you guys? Well, from this blog post, I guess what I am hoping for is to get more support for Jenna's trust and new campaign called 'Get Me to 21'.
THE JENNA LOWE TRUST:
Check the site out here!
They created the trust a while ago in order to raise awareness to help diagnosis for others, seeing as it is so rare, and also to help raise funds for the extremely expensive medication and procedures. You can help in this way by downloading a song that Jenna and her sister Kristi wrote that is available to buy on iTunes (it's a great song too!), or you can look on the website, there are really pretty bracelets that you can order and a whole bunch other other fundraisers, so please do support!
#GETMETO21
Check this out here.
This is a very new campaign they have created for Jenna, seeing as she now needs a lung transplant. The basic idea is to promote awareness and support of becoming an organ donor. Obviously this isn't even directly helping Jenna, but rather is just something to consider. One organ donor can save seven lives! I am not at all, asking you to do this, I understand what a very personal and big decision it is, but rather just asking that you think about it, and if not now, then maybe another day, but otherwise any form of awareness is exactly what she needs.
I don't know how I would manage this if I was in Jenna's situation, but even though I don't know her personally, she has just been so inspiring! I thought I'd do my little part to try help out. Even if one person reads this blog and checks out the website, that will be enough, because like I said, ultimately, awareness if a very powerful tool.
Okay, so what am I asking you to do, or hoping to get from this post?
- Please, if you have some time, check out the Jenna Lowe Trust website, it's very informative and has a blog Jenna does about coping and stuff like that.
- Check out the Get Me To 21 website and watch the YouTube video supporting that, that I posted above.
- If you have always wanted to be an organ donor and have never gotten round to it, then sign up, but otherwise just maybe consider if you ever would, if you want.
- If you like them, why not order one of the bracelets they're selling to raise money, this is probably limited to South Africans, but yeah, I think they're super pretty.
- This goes for everyone (international and local), and is a very easy one for any of you who aren't from SA. Why not buy the song on iTunes to raise money, it's called "I Need More Time" by Kristi Lowe, it is really beautiful and will cost you almost nothing, like R9 or $1!
- But lastly, most importantly, and the reason I decided to blog about this, PLEASE, pretty please, SHARE THESE LINKS, share the YouTube video and TALK ABOUT IT to your friends, etc. because even though it seems ambitious, if the YouTube video can go viral, or people from around the world, not just SA know about PH and Jenna's story, it will not only help Jenna but everyone else with the disease and those who may not even know they have it yet. Share the video on Google+, the websites on FB, blog about it, talk about it and tweet using #GETMETO21
Thanks guys, just doing one of these things is so easy for us, so if you have a few seconds free, think about it please.
xx
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