Dear Friends and Family,

I hope this letter finds you well. If we haven’t caught up in a while, please give me a call anytime, I would love to hear what is new with you and yours.

I also wanted to share with you a project our family is working on. Our family is serving as Hope Hero Ambassadors for Cure JM Foundation this Holiday Season. We are honored to be raising awareness of the rare disease, Juvenile Myositis.

You may know that Taran has battled this rare disease, Juvenile Myositis, since he was 5 years old; he is now 16. We first realized something was wrong when he suddenly had to climb stairs on his hands and knees; he was not strong enough to climb stairs standing up and he could no longer run. It was a horribly frightening time, because no one knew what was wrong. 

Taran’s fight has been hard at times. This disease can rob children of so much. With Juvenile Myositis, the immune system loses control, and the body attacks itself. It can steal a child's ability to walk, play, or even swallow. Currently, he is in maintenance; he gets medicine on a regular basis. Hopefully, other children like Taran won’t have to take prednisone which stunts growth, can cause early cataracts, osteoporosis, and many other problems. 

Your past support has made research possible and saved countless lives in the process. We are eternally grateful.

Yet, despite this progress there are still no FDA approved treatments for Juvenile Myositis. The current treatments, though lifesaving, are often borrowed from childhood cancer treatments.  The side effects can be debilitating and cause life-long complications and side-effects.

But the hope is in the research.

Your gift will fund JM research and help give Taran a brighter future.

Gifts will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Coffey Family Match.

Every dollar makes a difference!

• Click to give http://events.curejm.org/goto/Taran
• Checks can be made out to Cure JM and mailed to Cure JM, P.O. Box 45768, Baltimore, MD 21297 with Taran in the memo.

Because JM is rare, research is only made possible by people like you that care about the future of kids like Taran. 

We are very hopeful right now because there are now more new treatments in development for JM than ever before. We are optimistic that several of the drugs we have in the research pipeline will improve the lives of our children:

• One drug is a possible steroid replacement—a new steroid with far fewer side effects. 
• Another has already shown improvement in muscle strength and skin conditions in JM patients. 
• Both drugs are on their way to clinical trials in JM patients.

Your gift makes this hope possible.

Thank you for joining Taran’s fight!

Team Taran: Christy, David, Taran, Moira, Ron, and Deedee