Whether popular here or not, I have to give props to Jerry Lewis this Labor Day.

All the best to him for the money he raises in his telethon. I have very dear friends who had a son born in 1977 with muscular dystrophy. He didn't make it to a year old, and I still remember his smile. My friends didn't have to spend a dime on his treatment thanks to Jerry Lewis and his MDA telethon. And that was more than 30 years ago. I remember that story every Labor Day. Jerry is an obnoxious boor, but he has made a real difference in people's lives, and I am grateful to him for it. Thanks, Jerry, for Michael and all the other kids.

Sometimes the peope we love to hate turn out to be much more helpful to mankind than we ourselves are....

Jerry Lewis - as you said, love him or hate him - he has given heart and soul to that cause.

:hi:

AlDS, sickle cell, tuberculosis, cancer,
Jerry's kids still limping around.



l've been watching
the Jerry Lewis Telethon...



for probably about or years now.



Not one stitch of progress whatsoever.



Come on, man. Lie to me, Jerry!



What the fuck you doing, Jerry?



Put a stick in the kid's back,
prop him up or some shit!



Come on, call Steven Spielberg.



Get some special effects on this shit!



Get George Lucas on the case!



CGl, motherfucker!



What the fuck!



Tie some string around him,
make a cripple puppet or some shit.



Lie to me!



Where the fuck's the money going?



What, to keep Jerry's hair black?



Where's the money going? Think about it.



Frank Sinatra: dead. Dean Martin: dead.
Sammy Davis: dead.



Jerry Lewis got a full head of black hair.



And if you ain't gonna cure the disease,
cut the kids a check!



That's right, you know the little boy who's
getting ready to die? Get him a table dance.



Get him a table dance, for Christ's sake!



l'm sure the Make-A-Wish people
hear that request every now and then.



Get the boy a table dance.



''What do you want, Jimmy? You're dying.
Wanna meet Jim Carrey?''



''No, l want some big titties in my face.



''lt's my last wish, come on.''



That's right, man.

They's be folks that don't take kindly to such goins' on.

but I love that DVD.

:hi:

I am so sorry for your friends and their lost child. While MDA helped them in the treatment and care of their baby, the MDA has meant hope many others. Their work has funded gene therapy research that may help provide relief in the future for children with MDA, and may also help treat other disorders.

PS: While I've just got a little French blood, from my father's side, I'm proud to be a Jerry Lewis fan.

He didn't NEED to sponsor that drive for so many years. He did it out of pure love (at least, I'm convinced of that).

hospital. He wasted away from close to 300 lbs to just plain scrawny at his death. I read some of his letters this week that he had written to my sister, and toward the end he could barely hold a pen. He even wrote that he had to wrap all his fingertips around the pen, and even so he was tired after a few words.

A terrible set of diseases.

RIP to your Dad.

in our local paper several weeks ago that a wall of local WW1/WW2 veterans and (then) current military that was outside the old court house had been lost, due to several moves of stuff amongst warehouses and basements, remodels, etc.

While going through my sister's stuff this past week (she died Aug 30), Miz O found a picture dated 1944, of our dad as he was painting the names on that sign. With a magnifying glass many of the names could be made out. We took the picture right away to the historian at the court house, and I swear he almost jumped up and down.

Anyhow, it was a high moment in the week.

That f'ing asshole deserves no praise! He doesn't care about the disabled and he has proved time and time again.

Please listen to the dickwad:

http://www.cripcommentary.com/jlewispity.wav

"I'm telling people about a child in trouble! If it's pity, we'll get some money. I'm just giving you facts!"
"Pity? you don't want to be pitied because you're a cripple in a wheelchair, stay in ya house!"

Jerry Lewis
May 20, 2001

http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/extra/jerrylewis052401.htm

FUCK JERRY LEWIS!

I know exactly where the money goes and it ain't to turn Jerry's hair black (in spite of Chris Rock's quite hilarious rant). The MDA has taken care of us with not a single question asked. They didn't care whether I had health insurance, they didn't care how much money I make, they didn't care that my son is adopted, they welcomed us with open arms and they see him whenever we ask. Luckily so far the disease hasn't manifested itself in any bad ways but I know it's coming eventually. His father died from it at age 42, with the MDA's help maybe we can give my son a longer life.

he did a good thing with this tradition

I donate annually

They really do good work. I donated today, and I appreciate what Jerry has done. When he's gone, he will leave a void.

After all these years, has the money Jerry raised funded any research that might lead to a cure?

My thoughts every Labor Day are that we had MD carnivals and other fundraisers back in the 60s when I was a kid. I never dreamed that there would be no cure by now.

http://www.mda.org/publications/fa-mmd-family.html

In 1992, with MDA support, a landmark genetic discovery was made by three teams of scientists. They found in people with what is now called MMD1 an area of DNA (the basic genetic material that makes up our genes) on chromosome 19 that’s larger than it should be.

The expanded DNA is in a gene that carries instructions for myotonin protein kinase. The expanded DNA isn’t in the “working” part of the gene — the part that carries instructions for making protein. Instead, in MMD, the genetic flaw is in a part of a gene called the untranslated DNA, an area of DNA that the cell doesn’t use for protein manufacturing.

The experts were puzzled to find that an expanded section of this untranslated DNA could cause so much trouble, and the mystery still isn’t entirely solved.

http://www.als-mda.org/research/news/080125new_ALS_lead.html

Investigators at the University of Iowa led by molecular biologist John Engelhardt say they’ve uncovered an unexpected protein-protein interaction that appears to open a new avenue in the study of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Their results were published online yesterday in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Engelhardt and colleagues found that a protein called SOD1 normally interacts with the protein Rac1. The SOD1-Rac1 complex then triggers a third protein, Nox2, to produce potentially dangerous molecules called reactive oxygen species, or ROS. (The connection between Nox2 and ROS production was already known.)

ROS are highly reactive molecules that are needed for normal functioning of cells. However, in excess, they can cause a type of cell damage known as oxidative stress, which is known to occur in ALS, and inflammation, which has also been implicated in this disease.

http://www.mda.org/publications/fa-fried-treatment.html

In 1988 MDA-funded scientists linked Friedreich’s ataxia to chromosome 9, and in 1996 they identified FA-causing mutations in the frataxin gene. By the next year, they’d devised a genetic test for FA.

Besides this important advance in diagnosis and carrier testing, the discovery of frataxin mutations has opened doors to several potential treatments for FA.

The frataxin gene was unknown until it was tagged as the culprit behind FA. Since then, much research has focused on determining the normal functions of the frataxin protein in an effort to find ways of compensating for its shortage in FA.

http://www.sfdlocal1680.org/MDA.html

The money raised is not only for research but is also to assist families with the equipment needed to support their family member that has one of the many forms of neuromuscular disease.

Jerry is 83 and Ed McMahon is gone. I can't say more except from what I know of personal experience. Jerry is a difference maker, and I have seen it in my own life.

:thumbsup:

...their place and times.

There's absolutely a part of Jerry Lewis that's stuck in the era of the Mad Men when bigotry and sexism reigned, but you can't deny that he's helped tons of people in need, which is more than most of us can say.

anyone care to try to finish this? . . . and relate the story behind it (very much Jerry Lewis related)? :hi: