Mardens Stores across Maine help support MDA Camp

by Staff Pioneer Times
14 years ago

    HOULTON — Adam MacDonald who has a form of Muscular Dystrophy known as Duchenne traveled to Houlton July 3 to help Mardens store manager Sarah Foster and other employees sell Camp Mobiles. The mobiles are to support sending children with any of the more than 40 forms of Muscular Dystrophy to a MDA session of camp at Pine Tree Camp in Rome, Maine.
ImagePhoto courtesy of Cheryl Markey
MDA CAMP FUND-RAISER — Adam MacDonald, of Presque Isle, at left, joined Store Manager Sarah Foster at Marden’s in Houlton July 3, raising funds to send kids with various forms of Muscular Dystrophy to Pine Tree Camp by selling Camp Mobiles. MacDonald has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.
    MacDonald attended camp once when he was younger and still able to walk. He later attended an adult session of a fishing weekend. MDA does not cover the cost for adults with Muscular Dystrophy to attend a camp session, but MacDonald still wanted to support Camp Mobile Sales to send kids to camp even though he won’t benefit from this fundraiser.
    MacDonald and his mom Cheryl Markey along with his grandmother Evelyn Morris, helped sell the mobiles and had a great time meeting some of the employees at the Houlton Mardens Store.
    “Adam saw some local people he knew there shopping and they all purchased a mobile,” Markey said. “Also, relatives of Adam that live in Houlton came to shop at Mardens and purchased mobiles. We always invite others to research Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy as to spread awareness about this disease that there isn’t a cure for yet, but researchers are getting so, close to it becoming a reality.”
    MacDonald has represented MDA either as a State Poster Child in South Carolina and Maine and as a Goodwill Ambassador in the years since learning of his diagnosis back in 1990, while the family was living at Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, S.C.
    This year marks the 20th year MacDonald and his mother will volunteer to answer phones and appear live during the Labor Day telethon, broadcast from WABI-TV (Bangor).
    There are more than 40 forms of Muscular Dystrophy. Duchenne is the No. 1 genetic killer of boys across the world today. For more information on the Pine Tree Society, visit www.pinetreesociety.org.