MCMF Challenge UPDATE: Thank You So Much! Let's Keep This Going

Hey everyone,

Hope you're all having the best July on record!

I want to thank you for the amazing support of our MCMF Challenge on CrowdRise... very cool! As shown in the sidebar, you've helped The Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation raise over $1400 so far - Awesome! Now, we're only $570 away from the $2000 mark.

The Challenge ends on July 15th. And for every $1000 raised on our MCMF Challenge page on CrowdRise, my husband, Eric, and I will donate $200 to the Be the Match Foundation through our "Gift the Gift of Life" project. We've already donated $200 to Be the Match for the first $1000 reached, so let's keep this going!

Only $570 to go until we reach $2000... who's going to help us get there? :D

Thank you so much for your incredible support! Let's help adolescents and young adults kick some EBV and EBV-associated diseases' butt. 

Take Care,

Michele

Update: Over $1200 Raised for MCMF Challenge and $200 Donated to Be the Match

Hey everyone,

Exciting news: We're over the $1200 mark on our MCMF Challenge page! A huge THANK YOU to our donors for helping us reach that important milestone... You're all Amazing.

And for every $1000 raised on our MCMF Challenge page, Eric and I promised we would donate $200 to the Be the Match Foundation through our "Give the Gift of Life" project on CrowdRise... check out our donation here. Thanks again to everyone for helping us make a difference.

Let's keep this going... Only $794 until we reach $2000! We can do this. :)

Thank you!!

Michele

OK, Time to Start Gathering Your Teams of Six!

Hey everyone,

The Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation's Annual Bowl-A-Rama Fundraiser is going to be held on Saturday October 13th at Fountain Bowl in Fountain Valley, CA, from 5:30pm - 8:30pm... so mark your calendars.

Check out the flier for more details and please feel free to tell all of your friends and neighbors about this fun event... the more, the merrier! 

See you there!

Michele 

Michele and Eric's "MCMF Challenge 2012: May-July" on @crowdrise

So, here's the deal: 
Eric and I started a new campaign to help the Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation raise at least $50K for a research grant. This campaign runs from May 15th - July 15th and the goal is $20,000.

For every $1,000 raised for the MCMF Challenge 2012: May-July, Eric and I will donate $200 to the Be the Match Foundation through our "Give the Gift of Life" project page. Be the Match is an AMAZING charity that helps saves lives by adding donors to the marrow registry, by offering relief to patients who are struggling with thousands in uninsured costs, and by investing in "research discoveries".

(click the "Give the Gift of Life" project link to read more about this important cause)  

$1,000 raised for MCMF = $200 will be donated to Be the Match Foundation
$5,000 raised for MCMF = $1,000 will be donated to Be the Match Foundation
$10,000 raised for MCMF = $2,000 will be donated to Be the Match Foundation
$15,000 raised for MCMF = $3,000 will be donated to Be the Match Foundation
$20,000 raised for MCMF = $4,000 will be donated to Be the Match Foundation
Sound good? Then let's raise some funds and help save lives!

Who is Matt and why this matters:
Matt was a 22-year-old junior art director for Marshall Advertising, who loved the L.A. Galaxy soccer, A.S. Roma, the Flight of the Conchords, The Dandy Warhols, Jack’s Mannequin, The 88, and Will Ferrell movies, when he got a really bad case of mono. We thought he'd recovered until six months later when Matt started getting extraordinarily high fevers, his blood pressure dropped, and his blood counts cratered. His doctors were confounded, especially when they concluded it was not mono. It was only after he went into respiratory failure that his doctors at USC learned he suffered from EBV-induced Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (EBV-HLH), a blood disorder affecting only 1 of every 1,000,000 persons (after a bone marrow biopsy, the doctors decided he'd had mono earlier). While EBV-HLH is not cancer, it acts and is treated like a cancer. The disorder destroys healthy blood cells, and is treated with chemotherapy, and a bone marrow transplant, if necessary. EBV-HLH often induces lymphoma, which it did in Matt. One month after his EBV-HLH diagnosis, Matt learned he was also battling NK T-Cell lymphoma, one of the most aggressive and least researched blood cancers there is.

In December 2008, Matt received his bone marrow transplant. While it temporarily put him in remission, his lymphoma returned in February 2009, and in June 2009, Matt learned it had returned in the form of an inoperable brain tumor. After chemo failed to put him in remission, Matt began radiation treatment. Before finishing it, he was readmitted to the City of Hope in late September 2009. At that time, Matt was in a weakened state, with his EBV levels extraordinarily high that it was debilitating to his liver and kidneys. Unfortunately, the doctors were unable to administer any treatment that could reverse the affects of the EBV and its impact on Matt’s vital organs… And at midnight on October 3, 2009, he passed away with his family surrounding him.  
Please help us fund medical research for EBV and EBV-associated diseases, which include blood cancers. We need to raise at least $50,000 for a research grant and we're not quite there yet. We definitely can't reach this goal without everyone's help, so let's do this... for Matt and for other families. Thank you so much!

To learn more about the Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation and what we want to accomplish, please visit:http://www.mattcwiertnymemorialfoundation.com

Follow the Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation on Twitter at @MattCwiertnyMF

Or on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/mattcwiertnymemorialfoundation

Thank you.

Michele

Happy New Year! And MCMF Holiday Challenge Getting Closer to $3K on @Crowdrise

Happy New Year! Here's to a very happy and healthy 2012. 

Thank you very much to everyone for the amazing support of The Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation in 2011. We couldn't continue the fight against EBV and EBV-Associated Diseases in Matt's name without your help, so Thank You!! You're making a difference and helping us save lives. You're all incredible people.


On that note, we still have our MCMF Holiday Challenge on CrowdRise running until January 11th. Right now, we're only $867 from the $3K mark! Who will help us reach that milestone? Let's start off our 2012 research grant with a BANG and really push these first couple weeks of the new year. 

Let's help find a CURE. Let's help other families. 


Thank you,
Michele Cwiertny




To help out our MCMF Holiday Challenge, please click HERE.

Over $2K Raised So Far for MCMF Holiday Challenge on @Crowdrise

Hey everyone,

Thank you so much for helping our MCMF Holiday Challenge reach the $2000 mark! We couldn't do this without you -- Thank You!! For those of you reading about this challenge for the first time, the MCMF Holiday Challenge is the Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation's newest project on CrowdRise.

Our next goal? To hit the $3,000 milestone! We can do this. Let's save lives and help find a CURE... Every bit will definitely make a difference.

We're so excited about this challenge, as Mozilla Firefox will be donating $25,000 to the charity that raises the most funds on CrowdRise between December 13th and January 11th... Soooo, we definitely need everyone's help. Yep, everyone's. Please join our team. Please donate. Please join our team AND donate AND tell everyone in the world all about it too. 
 



Thank you again for your amazing support! You all totally ROCK. xo


Michele Cwiertny

Over $1800 Raised So Far for MCMF Holiday Challenge on @Crowdrise

Hey everyone,

Hope you're having a wonderful Holiday Season!

Just letting you know that our MCMF Holiday Challenge on CrowdRise has hit the $1800 mark -- Awesome! We're so, so close to $2,000... Who is going to help us reach that incredible milestone? :)

We're so excited about this challenge, as Mozilla Firefox will be donating $25,000 to the charity that raises the most funds on CrowdRise between December 13th and January 11th... Soooo, we definitely need everyone's help. Yep, everyone's. Please join our team. Please donate. Please join our team AND donate AND tell everyone in the world all about it too. 

Thank you very much for your support! Without you, the Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation wouldn't be able to save lives and help find a CURE.

Thank you!!

Michele

 

Over $1500 Raised So Far for MCMF Holiday Challenge on @Crowdrise

So Awesome!

Thanks to our very generous donors, our MCMF Holiday Challenge, which benefits the Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation, has reached the $1500 mark! So, so great. 

OK, so here's the new goal: Let's raise another $1K for the MCMF Holiday Challenge by this Sunday- Yay! Please help us save lives & find a CURE.

We're so excited about this challenge, as Mozilla Firefox will be donating $25,000 to the charity that raises the most funds on CrowdRise between December 13th and January 11th... Soooo, we definitely need everyone's help. Yep, everyone's. Please join our team. Please donate. Please join our team AND donate AND tell everyone in the world all about it too. :D


Thank you so much for your amazing support. You are all incredible people.
MC

Over $1K Raised So Far for MCMF Holiday Challenge on @Crowdrise

Awesome! Our MCMF Holiday Challenge is off to a good start... We've raised over $1,000 so far and we have 23 days to go! Let's keep going and help find a CURE for EBV and EBV-Associated diseases, which include blood cancers. We can do this.

The Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation needs your help. Join our team. Donate. Join our team and donate. Tell everyone in world all about this so we can make a difference.

To help the Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation win the Mozilla Firefox Challenge and the $25,000 donation toward our 2012 grant, please click here:

MCMF HOLIDAY CHALLENGE

Thank you so much for your amazing support!

MC

P.S. To find out more about our MCMF Holiday Challenge, please click the link above or read the previous post on this blog. Thank you! 

The MCMF Holiday Challenge on @Crowdrise

Please help the Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation win $25,000!

Mozilla Firefox will be donating $25,000 to the charity that raises the most money on Crowdrise between December 13th and January 11th... and how AWESOME would it be if the Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation won?! We can do this!!

PLEASE HELP! Join our team. Donate. Join our team and donate. Get your friends and family to join in and donate. We need everyone's help. Let's make certain our 2011 grant makes an impact and saves lives... and please, please help us start NEXT year's grant off with $25,000! Amazing, right?

Please help the Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation by donating here:
MCMF Holiday Challenge

So why does this matter so much to us? Here's why we're so passionate about this:

Matt was a 22-year-old junior art director for Marshall Advertising, who loved the L.A. Galaxy soccer, A.S. Roma, the Flight of the Conchords, The Dandy Warhols, Jack’s Mannequin, The 88, and Will Ferrell movies, when he got a really bad case of mono. We thought he'd recovered until six months later when Matt started getting extraordinarily high fevers, his blood pressure dropped, and his blood counts cratered. His doctors were confounded, especially when they concluded it was not mono. It was only after he went into respiratory failure that his doctors at USC learned he suffered from EBV-induced Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (EBV-HLH), a blood disorder affecting only 1 of every 1,000,000 persons (after a bone marrow biopsy, the doctors decided he'd had mono earlier). While EBV-HLH is not cancer, it acts and is treated like a cancer. The disorder destroys healthy blood cells, and is treated with chemotherapy, and a bone marrow transplant, if necessary. EBV-HLH often induces lymphoma, which it did in Matt. One month after his EBV-HLH diagnosis, Matt learned he was also battling NK T-Cell lymphoma, one of the most aggressive and least researched blood cancers there is.

In December 2008, Matt received his bone marrow transplant. While it temporarily put him in remission, his lymphoma returned in February 2009, and in June 2009, Matt learned it had returned in the form of an inoperable brain tumor. After chemo failed to put him in remission, Matt began radiation treatment. Before finishing it, he was readmitted to the City of Hope in late September 2009. At that time, Matt was in a weakened state, with his EBV levels extraordinarily high that it was debilitating to his liver and kidneys. Unfortunately, the doctors were unable to administer any treatment that could reverse the affects of the EBV and its impact on Matt’s vital organs… And at midnight on October 3, 2009, he passed away with his family surrounding him.

Please help us fund medical research for EBV and EBV-associated diseases, including blood cancers. We need cures and NOW. Let's do this.

To learn more about the Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation and what we want to accomplish, please visit: http://www.mattcwiertnymemorialfoundation.com

Thank you!

Benefit Concert Featuring The 88

Hey, everyone!

The Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation is active and ready to hold its first official fundraising event! It's a benefit concert, featuring our good friends, The 88. Proceeds from the concert and silent auction will help the MCMF raise funds to fight the Epstein-Barr Virus and EBV-associated diseases. Join us on Saturday May 7th, 2011. Doors open at 5pm. It's ALL AGES. It's only $20. AND it's gonna be GREAT!


If you would like to help us out by donating a silent auction item, please let us know! That would be amazing. Thank you!


BUY YOUR $20 TICKETS AT: http://is.gd/PDUgHO

From The 88's Event page:
All proceeds from the event will aid the Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation in their efforts to support research for a cure of EBV and EBV - associated diseases.


Time: Saturday, May 7 · 5:00pm - 9:00pm

Location: The Echo · 1822 W Sunset Blvd · Los Angeles, CA

5pm doors open

6pm Taylor Locke & The Roughs

7pm The 88

Matt was a fan of The 88 and a dear friend to the band. He passed away at 24, and we are doing everything we can to honor his memory and help raise awareness about EBV. Come out and enjoy an evening of music, and help us raise money for the Foundation in his name.

Matt Cwiertny was a wonderful and vital 24-year-old young man who fought to overcome an immune system disorder that made him vulnerable to the Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV). Because there is not a vaccine for EBV, EBV overwhelmed Matt’s immune system on many occasions, leading him to develop EBV-Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). HLH, also known as hemophagocytic syndrome, is a disorder of unregulated activation of lymphohistiocytic cells that results in hemophagocytosis, hypercytokinemia, and multi-organ (e.g., spleen, liver, lung, brain, or other vital organs) dysfunction, which without early treatment results in death. After a number of very severe battles with EBV-associated HLH, Matt developed non-Hodgkin’s NK T-cell lymphoma (cancer). In an attempt to cure his EBV–associated cancer, he underwent numerous rounds of chemotherapy and ultimately a Bone Marrow Transplant at The City of Hope in Duarte, CA, in late 2008. Sadly, in mid-2009, the disease returned and Matt became seriously ill with NK-T-cell brain lymphoma, which necessitated several rounds of brain radiation. While fighting a very severe episode of EBV-HLH, and just after completing a dozen sessions of brain radiation therapy that significantly weakened his immune system, Matt succumbed to his extremely rare EBV-associated diseases and passed away on October 3, 2009. 

The mission of the Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation is the cure of EBV and EBV-associated diseases. The charitable and primary purpose of the Foundation is to raise funds to accomplish medical research needed to cure EBV and EBV - associated diseases, with emphasis upon cures for EBV-HLH and NK T-cell lymphoma. A secondary goal of the Foundation is raising public awareness of all EBV-associated diseases and the need to find cures for these rare and terrible diseases.

*****
UPDATE: Fixed the link for the MCMF website.