CORONA DEL MAR, Calif. – June 23, 2010 - CureDuchenne, a national 501(c)3 dedicated to raising funds and awareness in the fight against Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), today announced the success of their most recent national fundraiser, Climb to CureDuchenne: Pick Your Peak. As a signature component of the nonprofit’s CureDuchenne Adventures fundraising event series, outdoor enthusiasts, philanthropists, families of boys with DMD, and hundreds of others across the nation climbed for a cause to summit peaks across the nation June 19-20, 2010.
Across the country, twenty-two teams reached the summit of many of the U.S.’s most well-known peaks like Mt. Shasta and Mt. Baldy in California, the Manitou Incline in the Colorado Rockies and even the Wachovia Financial Tower in Miami, Florida to raise awareness and a total of $250,000 for DMD research.
The event inspired enthusiasm and a call to action across the country and those heading down each mountain already began spinning their wheels for the 2011 climb.
“There is simply no better cure for grief and helplessness than to get out there and get moving,” said Paul Cliff, father of a boy with DMD and a member of the Mt. Shasta climbing team. “Coming together as a team forces you to train and interact with friends and family in a positive way. While each day that passes without a cure is bittersweet, there is nothing more powerful than your son hugging you at the bottom of the climb. I can’t wait to organize my 2011 team.”
Just days after the 22 teams stood on the summit of some of the country’s most well-known mountains, CureDuchenne is already rolling out the 2011 Climb to CureDuchenne. This year, in addition to teams picking their peaks across the country, CureDuchenne will sponsor an international climb up one of the world’s tallest peaks to be announced in the Fall of 2010.
All of the funds raised by the 2010 Climb to CureDuchenne: Pick Your Peak will fund groundbreaking research for DMD being conducted by Dr. Jeff Chamberlain at the University of Washington’s Chamberlain lab – a highly successful research program dedicated to muscular dystrophy research and treatment development. Dr. Chamberlain’s research will bring gene therapy into human clinical trials, a potentially life-saving step toward finding a cure for DMD.
Additionally, in the spirit of CureDuchenne Adventures, CureDuchenne encourages those interested in planning adventures of their own to benefit DMD research to contact CureDuchenne co-founder Debra Miller through www.cureduchenne.org.
“We’re all about putting some muscle behind this disease,” said Miller. “Whether we’re climbing, rafting, swimming or biking, we want to stand united and save our boys lives. The 2010 Climb to CureDuchenne was a huge step forward and we believe that we can leverage this momentum into creating a sea of change in the Duchenne community.”
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