A Moment of Your Time...
Greetings friends of Beauty Café!!
Many of you remember back when I first opened Beauty Café in July of 97. WOW it really seems like yesterday that I had this dream of opening an online boutique offering hard to find fragrances and bath and body products… but I did achieve my dream back then and I could not have done it initially without the loving support and assistance of my dearest friend Connie Radzwion.
Connie and I met a couple of years earlier on alt.fashion. As many of you remember from alt.fashion, we were Thelma and Louise… always an adventure whenever we got together, we were trouble from the start… from meeting Bobbi Brown at Neiman’s to our hysterical dual makeovers with Trish McEvoy and oh all those lunches at La Madeline’s and our beloved Strawberries Romanoff… and those that remember all that, remember Connie meeting her future husband, Terry Radzwion, also on alt.fashion and the beginning of their interstate love affair and marriage and then the blessing of the birth of their daughter Madeleine.
Madeleine, now 7yrs old, was diagnosed in 2/2004 with a rare auto-immune disease, juvenile dermatomyositis.
This miserable disease causes the body's immune system to attack it's own cells and tissues. It can attack all major body systems and organs. In most cases JDM starts with muscle weakness, it spreads to problems with swallowing and aspiration. Juvenile Myositis ( JM), an auto-immune disorder that affects approximately 5,000 children and teens nationwide. This family of rare and debilitating diseases can cause muscle weakness and pain, extreme fatigue, digestive difficulties, lung and heart problems, painful calcium deposits under the skin and a host of other side-effects. While some children will experience a remission, others will suffer JM’s destructive effects their entire lives. Some children will even die from complications of the disease.
For a short (ha ha) version on how Madeleine's life has been changed you can check her journal CaringBridge.org - madeleine . Connie tries to keep it up to date but lately Madeleine’s treatment schedule has been very overwhelming. She is doing great with her new g-button (feeding tube) and is finally gaining weight! YAY! Over the summer she went through two bouts of line infections but her awesome Dr's were able to get the correct IV antibiotics quickly and they saved her port. A line is critical because of the need for her to get weekly IV treatments.
Now, the reason that we are sharing this with you. Connie is involved with the Cure JM Foundation. They are an all volunteer group of families with children affected with JDM. They raise money for valuable research that their children need desperately. You can see the projects that they are currently paying for on their website CUREJM.
The weekend of October 27 - 28, a team of more than 150 runners, walkers, and volunteers will be in Washington D.C. for the Marine Corps Marathon. The actual marathon will take place on Sunday, October 28th. We invite you to come and join us in supporting Cure JM and to help raise money for our research.
I know Connie and Madeleine would love to have their friends be there with them. If you are interested in participating in the marathon, volunteering or donating as a sponsor please visit CureJM for further information on how you can be a part of this very special event.
If you have any further questions you can reach Connie directly via email at cgoldtx@aol.com or you can reach me at lisa@beautycafe.com
Love, laughter and friendship
Lisa
