Please pass this on.
I know alot of people on this community have attended Dragon*Con every year, if not atleast once in their lives. If you have, you probably have seen, talked to, passed by, laughed with, or have done something with Melissa Kern. Especially if you're strong in the Lord of the Rings community, Harry Potter community or even anime.
Mel has helped out and headed up the Young Adult Lit track at DCon, as well as the Tolkien tracks. She has worked security at Anime Weekend Atlanta and various other Sci-Fi/Fantasy events around Atlanta including Mythic Journeys.
First and foremost, Mel is one of my closest friends and in December she was diagnosed with ALS, also know as Lou Gerrigs disease. Unfortunitely the form of the disease she has is rapid and 9 times out of 10, fatal. Though everyone is hoping for some sort of turnaround, or maybe a slower progression of the disease, (see Stephen Hawkin).
What I bring to you today is a plea to sign an online petition that her husband has started to try and make a dream of hers come true.
Please read further:
As most of you know, my wife Melissa "Fiver" Kern has been diagnosed with ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. In September, she marched with fellow Lord of the Rings fans in the annual DragonCon parade, but six months later, she needs help walking, dressing and using stairs.
I wanted to do something for Melissa, to show her the impact that she's had on people, in the Lord of the Rings communities and beyond. To that end, I have put together a petition online. I call it "Project FIVER" (after her name on the community websites), and it is a petition to have New Line cast her as a Hobbit extra in THE HOBBIT. We don't know the course her disease will take, so she worries that she won't be around to see the movies in theaters, so this was the next best thing.
If you wouldn't mind, please sign the petition. Feel free to share the link with others, but PLEASE keep this from Melissa for the time being! I want to reveal it to her when the time is right. (Thus the locked post)
http://www.armsofmiddleearth.com/projectfiver/
Thanks to each of you for being a good friend to her.
Mel has helped out and headed up the Young Adult Lit track at DCon, as well as the Tolkien tracks. She has worked security at Anime Weekend Atlanta and various other Sci-Fi/Fantasy events around Atlanta including Mythic Journeys.
First and foremost, Mel is one of my closest friends and in December she was diagnosed with ALS, also know as Lou Gerrigs disease. Unfortunitely the form of the disease she has is rapid and 9 times out of 10, fatal. Though everyone is hoping for some sort of turnaround, or maybe a slower progression of the disease, (see Stephen Hawkin).
What I bring to you today is a plea to sign an online petition that her husband has started to try and make a dream of hers come true.
Please read further:
As most of you know, my wife Melissa "Fiver" Kern has been diagnosed with ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. In September, she marched with fellow Lord of the Rings fans in the annual DragonCon parade, but six months later, she needs help walking, dressing and using stairs.
I wanted to do something for Melissa, to show her the impact that she's had on people, in the Lord of the Rings communities and beyond. To that end, I have put together a petition online. I call it "Project FIVER" (after her name on the community websites), and it is a petition to have New Line cast her as a Hobbit extra in THE HOBBIT. We don't know the course her disease will take, so she worries that she won't be around to see the movies in theaters, so this was the next best thing.
If you wouldn't mind, please sign the petition. Feel free to share the link with others, but PLEASE keep this from Melissa for the time being! I want to reveal it to her when the time is right. (Thus the locked post)
http://www.armsofmiddleearth.com/projectfiver/
Thanks to each of you for being a good friend to her.