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MDA Photographers: Mariel McHugh, Tori Palmer & Elizabeth Scott
Dawn Ver Haagh, Dr. Stanley Appel, Angela Wrigglesworth Titcombe, Mark Smith, Liz Ortega
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MDA Photographers: Mariel McHugh, Tori Palmer & Elizabeth Scott
Toast to Life
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MDA Photographers: Mariel McHugh, Tori Palmer & Elizabeth Scott
MDA leaders with Byran, Baytown, College Station and Houston Firefighters
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MDA Photographers: Mariel McHugh, Tori Palmer & Elizabeth Scott
Edgar Medina, David Dees, Liz Ortega
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MDA Photographers: Mariel McHugh, Tori Palmer & Elizabeth Scott
Emily Stander, Carrie Dalton, Russell Cowart, Colleen Ernst, Liz Ortega, Amanda Riddle
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MDA Photographers: Mariel McHugh, Tori Palmer & Elizabeth Scott
Emily and Alex Knoll, Travis and Colleen Peterson
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MDA Photographers: Mariel McHugh, Tori Palmer & Elizabeth Scott
Heads or Tails Fundraiser
Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) advocates came together on Friday, January 25, 2019 for the inaugural Toast to Life event at Royal Sonesta Houston Galleria.
Jazz tunes from the Ziggy Band filled the packed ballroom along with nationally recognized leaders in healthcare. Angela Wrigglesworth Titcombe—an MDA hero—was the evening’s featured speaker. As a first-hand witness to the short- and long-term impact MDA has on the community, Titcombe delivered a powerfully moving speech which had the audience laughing, crying and on their feet with a standing ovation.
Diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) Type 2 at 16 months of age, Titcombe is one of the first patients in Texas to receive Spinraza, a life-saving treatment, only recently FDA approved. Spinraza has been shown to halt—or even reverse—the progression of SMA.
“Thanks to MDA, the rhetoric of the past has now become reality, " Titcombe said.
Attendees included Mark Smith, MDA National Board member; Dr. Stanley Appel, MDA National Board member, world-renowned ALS researcher and clinic director of the MDA Care Center at the Houston Methodist Neurological Institute; and Dr. Timothy Lotze, director of the MDA Care Center at Texas Children’s Hospital’s Bluebird Clinic.
Also in attendance were MDA ambassadors, Lexie Bogard, William Cheeley, David Dees, and Marcus Mann, volunteers and representatives from corporate sponsors like CEMEX, Cabot Oil & Gas and JP Morgan Chase & Co. The Senior Resource Guide was a proud sponsor of this event and provided complimentary copies for attendees.
More than $127,000 was raised to support MDA’s mission to transform the lives of individuals with neuromuscular diseases, so they can live longer and grow stronger. Through the proceeds raised at Toast to Life and events throughout the year, MDA remains the largest nongovernmental funder of neuromuscular disease research, seeking to advance treatment options, and ultimately to discover cures, for families living with neuromuscular disease.