Buy some pretty things and help save lives

Hey everyone, how've you been?

I wanted to write a quick blog, to tell you all about August being S.M.A Awareness month. This is a medical condition, that's extremely close to my heart as I am infact, a sufferer of it. 

SMA stands for Spinal Muscular Atrophy 
SMA is a devastating, genetic disease. It is a leading genetic killer of infants and toddlers, with 50% of the most severely diagnosed cases resulting in death by the age of two. Children with a less severe form of SMA face the prospect of progressive muscle wasting, loss of mobility and motor function. But their minds are unaffected resulting in bright, intelligent children with varying degrees of physical impairment.

• SMA is currently incurable and often fatal
• 1 in every 6,000 births is affected by SMA
• 1 in every 40 people is a carrier of the defective gene that causes SMA
• the child of two carriers has a one in four chance of developing SMA
• SMA affects motor neurons in the spinal cord. This results in muscular weakness, leading to severe disability and the possibility of premature death

SMA is currently incurable 

And so, in my own special way I'd like to raise my own form of awareness, and am offering you a very special deal. I pledge, to make a 10% donation of my total sales of all products and commissions successfully made during the entire month of August 2013! That's a whole 31 days of donations, which you can help with! My donation will go to The Jennifer Trust, supporting families with S.M.A and funding for research.

Simply visit my Etsy store, and spend a few pennies for some handmade fancies.

And it doesn't stop there. The rest of the money made through sales and commissions during August will solely be funding my very first independent children's book, starring a character that has their own medical condition. 

It truly pains me that almost all of the 'disability' books on the market are so prescribed by publishers as to how they think society should perceive a child with a disability. The books are overly politically correct and have a very basic story of 'disability is ok', whereas what I plan to do is create a story that doesn't touch on the struggles of being in a wheelchair but simply a care-free, exciting and imaginative story of what you can become! I'm trying to show that there's no need to mention the disability at all, as the character is complete as it is and isn't any different than any other character, the chair does not define who he or she is. This has always been my approach to life and I think its an extremely positive one, which is often the response of many of the parents I talk with to support their families with children with S.M.A.

So if you can help me raise a bit of cash for S.M.A Awareness month then please do, and if there isn't anything you fancy in my shop then you can commission me to create anything, from a pencil scribble to a complete work of art!

Thank you!