Jay Willis, founder of MoMetrix, presents a $10,000 check to the Muscular Dystrophy Association at the 2012 Beaumont Executive Lockup. His six-year-old son Benjamin has spinal muscular atrophy and needs an ankle-foot orthosis that costs $1,500. Express Mart raised $16,101 through a shamrock campaign for the same cause.
Dan? Alright, thanks James. We're talking about all, all the people who are at work and all the different things that are going on. Before we talk with Jay, let me just mention the employees at Express Mart. They believe in making a difference, Jay. They have stepped up their mission to ask every customer who walked in to buy a shamrock. They must have done a lot of asking because they wound up with a total of $16,101 in shamrocks, and they presented MDA with a corporate check during the 2012 Beaumont Executive Lockup. So thanks to the folks at Express Mart. And as I mentioned, Jay Willis with us. You just saw him talking about his business and what it's doing, but you have a vested interest in this, don't you?
Absolutely. I have a 6-year-old son, Benjamin, who actually has spinal muscular atrophy, which is a form of muscular dystrophy.
Let me ask, and I, I ask this of all the people that I come in contact with, did you really have any idea about the diagnosis before you heard about it? Had you ever heard really about any of the real muscular dystrophies other than the telethon?
No, I mean, certainly I'd seen the telethon every year, but I really didn't have— it wasn't real to me until, you know, Benjamin was diagnosed when he was about 2, 2 and a half, with muscular dystrophy. And since then, of course, it's very real.
Now, when it comes from being the shock, the diagnosis, to the reality of living the life, right, that life does go You fight the fight, right?
Right, absolutely. And do all you can to try to help make a difference and help them find a cure for it.
And to make life easier for your child, as we all do, right? Absolutely. Now, I show this because I think this is significant. When we talk about raising money and, and the efforts that you and your company— it's for items like this, right? Right.
And what this is, this is called an AFO, and essentially it's for physical therapy. It helps prolong the length of time that our son Benjamin will be able to walk. Stretches out his ankles at night. And the reason I wanted to show this is that these actually cost— he recently had to get a new pair. These cost $1,500 for the pair of them. And fortunately, we're blessed with good insurance, but there are plenty of families who don't have insurance or not, not necessarily the greatest insurance. Then they have to pay this out of pocket.
So, and that's where MDA steps in, right? Absolutely. Fill that gap that exists there. I know your company is also working to raise money as well, right?
Yes. During the month of August, MoMetrix sponsored me to donate basically a percentage of sales to go toward research for muscular dystrophy. And so we just, we told our story to as many people as we could, and God blessed our efforts, and we were able to have a really good campaign.
All right, I think you have a check for me.
We do, yeah. MoMetrix is pleased to present this check to MDA for $10,000.
Wow, yeah, that's impressive. Jay, thank you for your time, and thank you for, for coming and giving a voice to a lot of children who might not otherwise have it. And please say hello to your child for us, will you?
I'll do it.
I know he's working hard and fights hard every single day that he goes through his life. You can make a difference. Again, it's as simple— it may not be $10,000, maybe it's $20, maybe it's not going out to eat, you know, and instead making a pledge. Do it today, 1-800-FIGHT-MS.
