47 (and counting) Portly Realtors are Each Putting up 50 Bucks to See Who is the Biggest Loser…and Help Out Their Favorite Charity
I entered a similar contest last year that was associated with Ridgewood Dad’s Night and had mixed results. In other words, I was a big loser but not the kind of big loser I wanted to be. This contest has a charity component so I am banking on this aspect to give me some extra motivation. The winner’s charity will receive the contest pot which currently stands at $2350.
I am playing for the Pediatric Epilepsy Center at Beth Israel Medical Center. Epilepsy is a disease that gets very little publicity and also, unfortunately, very little funding. Below is a quote taken from noted epilepsy activist and Hollywood director Jim Abraham’s testimony before Congress on the subject of the lack of epilepsy funding and its affect on children.
“I will not burn my time by repeating the inequity you can clearly see, however I will comment on it by saying that until you’ve seen your own child’s eyes go dead and roll back in her head as she drops to the ground, until you’ve watched your own child slowly fade into retardation, one painstaking day at a time, until you’ve seen your child decay from a drug reaction, or, you’ve buried your own child after she drown in her bathtub after a seizure, you can’t possibly appreciate the cruelty of this disparity [in funding for Epilepsy vs other diseases].”
Consider these facts:
- Roughly the same number of people die every year from epilepsy related causes as from Breast Cancer - yet Epilepsy receives a tiny fraction of the funding that is given to Breast Cancer.
- More Americans have epilepsy than muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s Disease combined.
- Of the roughly 181,000 new cases diagnosed each year, 75% will be children.
This is a charity that is near and dear to me because my son Luke has a severe form of Epilepsy called Doose Syndrome. He is one of the lucky ones. His seizures have been controlled for years due to the help of God and a brilliant doctor at Beth Israel named Stephen Wolf. I still can’t bring myself to say Luke “had” Doose Syndrome, as in the past tense, even though he has been in remission for years. I have this irrational fear that saying that the ordeal is over will somehow bring it back. Luke is doing extremely well but so many children who suffer from Doose Syndrome and other forms of epilepsy are not. I try to raise awareness of this horrible disease and its pitiful lack of funding whenever I can - but probably not as much as I could or should.
Ok, time to get off my soapbox and onto the scale. Below is my initial weigh-in number. On February 1, 2009 whoever has the largest percentage weight loss wins. Click here to learn more about the contest which was set up by Jay Thompson.
Best of luck - you got me interested - was hopeful that there was going to be help - I have a heck of a lot more to loose than you do - and could use some help
Thesa - Thanks for your note. There is still time to enter the contest and there is tons of good info on Jay’s site.
Can’t wait to see you lose and lose bigtime, Al. You can do it.
Isn’t Bible God wonderful to include all these terrible afflictions as part of the suffering of Original Sin?
Elaine - You always knew I was a big loser and now I am going to prove it to you.
Frank - I clearly don’t have any answers but I do feel like there is a reason for everything and we will find out what they are once we pass on.
Thanks for joining in Al! The coolest thing is we all get to be a little healthy and some charity gets some money. Can’t beat that!
Jay - Thanks for thinking this up. No matter what happens a good charity will get some much needed cash and a bunch of folks will lose some flab. Can’t beat that.
Al- I had no idea epilepsy was such an epidemic. Thanks for the education!
Kathleen - Thanks for your note. Most people have no idea how prevalent Epilepsy is. It is sort of a hidden disease but it impacts so many families.
Al,
Good luck with the contest. I just lost 25lbs in 7 weeks in my office Biggest Loser contest. GO get ‘em!
Ryan - 25 lbs in 7 weeks? That’s awesome. What’s your secret? Is it something you feel you can keep up now that the contest is over?
Sometimes when you lose, you win! Good luck, Al! Thank you very much for the little known facts on epilepsy.
Antoinette - You make a great point. Hopefully, I can lose and win. Thanks for the comment and the encouragement.