Hello!
My name is Hannah Sames.  I am four years old and live with my two sisters, my Mom and Dad, and our dog, Ginger, at 19 Blue Jay Way in Rexford, New York.  This is my picture, and I need your help.  I want to live!

I haven’t been able to walk very well lately and I fall down easily so Mom and Dad brought me to the doctor’s office and a number of hospitals.  I think I am a pin cushion because of all the needles they have been sticking in me and taking out my blood.  The last hospital to do this was Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City.

After doing a number of tests on my blood, spinal fluid, muscle tissue and nerve tissue, the doctors contacted my parents and told them I have a very rare disease.  It is called Giant Axonal Neuropathy (GAN for short).  I guess it is similar to a disease named after a famous baseball player called Lou Gehrig.

My Mom and Dad have been working frantically since getting the news about my disease.  I heard they have formed a foundation to raise money for me and the other kids around the world that have my disease for research for a treatment and a cure so we can grow up and have normal lives like my preschool friends will.

I heard them say they are calling this foundation “Hannah’s Hope Fund” after me.  I heard them say they will need millions of dollars to find a treatment and cure for us.  My Mom has been talking with some researchers at Massachusetts Children Hospital, Stanford University, and Columbia Presbyterian and from what I understand there is a full team of researchers and geneticist that want to take on my case and find a cure for GAN.  It is going to take a lot of money for the research, clinical trials, and everything else that is needed.  By doing so, they will be helping to find cures for many other neurodegenerative diseases and helping other kids like me get better.

Would you help me?  Please send your tax deductible donation to:  Hannah’s Hope Fund: 
19 Blue Jay Way, Rexford, NY 12148 

Thank you!

      Love,
      Hannah (as told by her Grandfather)