Thank you for visiting my fundraising page and Happy Valentine’s Day! I am participating this year in the 8th Annual Valentine’s Day Research Campaign and asking you to make a donation in the name of my sweetheart. A tax-deductible contribution will fund research projects that will help eliminate the challenges of Prader-Willi syndrome and lead towards discovering a cure.

Prader-Willi syndrome is a host of developmental challenges affecting gross and motor skills, speech, cognition, and behavior and presents a myriad of medical issues including low muscle tone, respiratory issues, GI challenges, metabolic dysfunction, temperature instability, and irregular pain detection. An involuntary, uncontrollable hunger is a daily reality for those with PWS and may lead to life-threatening, morbid obesity. PWS is the most common known genetic reason for obesity and occurs in all races and ethnicities worldwide. Those with the syndrome may live a normal life expectancy if provided early intervention, proper medical care and strict environmental controls, but to date, there is no cure. For more information, please visit www.pwsausa.org.

Love transforms lives. Your love and support will improve the lives of those with PWS. Please find it in your heart to support this cause. It is fast, secure and easy to do.

Thank you!

About My Valentine: i copied this fromher parents page

Dear friends

my name is amiyah and i have prader willi syndrome. some of you know me, but you might not know the love and patience that have been required by my mom and dad to get me where i am today.

Please take a minute out of your busy day to hear my story. Babies like me everywhere need your help.

When I was born, I couldn’t move or cry or even suck very well. I was like a rag doll. The doctors called me "failure to thrive" and "content to starve," but mommy called me a miracle. I slept all the time nearly 24 hours a day. My mom had to set the alarm to get up to feed me because I was too weak to cry. I couldn’t hold my head up or stay awake to eat. When other babies smiled back at their moms, I couldn’t. I didn’t have the muscle tone to smile yet. My mom had to make it though those early months knowing that I loved her, but I couldn’t show it. I know that was hard on her, but she loved me and insisted that I got the nourishment I needed. Sometimes it took an hour to get me to drink a couple of ounces. She learned to watch for the smallest sign from me that I was uncomfortable, because I couldn’t squirm to another position. She listened to me with her heart and loved me unconditionally. I felt her love as she held me and rocked me and sang to me, but I could barely open my eyes to look at her.

I am getting stronger every day and my family is adjusting to my delays. They know that PWS kids eventually learn to roll over, sit up, crawl, walk and talk, it just takes us about twice as long as typical babies.

But the hardest part for us is yet to come. Most likely by the time I master all these milestones, hyperphagia will set in. This means that ill never feel full again. Even after a big Thanksgiving meal, ill feel hungry. Ironic, isn’t it? A baby who was "content to starve" will one day never be finished eating. When this happens, mommy may have to lock the cupboards and the refrigerator. She’ll have to count my calories, because ill have a slow metabolism and will gain weight easily. I may forge for food in the rash or sneak out of bed in the night to gorge myself on anything I can find.

I don’t want to eat to much. I don’t want to get so fat that I could die. I don’t want my mom to worry about me every time I leave the house. I wish these things wouldn’t happen to me, but there are no medicines to help me. No diet drug will stop my appetite once it starts. No medicine will make the gnawing in my belly stop. Everybody gets hungry, but try to imagine not being able to make the pain go away, I need your help to find a medicine to stop the hunger. Don’t you think I deserve the chance to have a normal future? After all, I’ve had a really hard start. And I’ve worked really had to do all the things that typical kids do easily. Im just getting to the point that I can do the things that my friends do. I don’t want to be different .

I can smile now, and I don’t want to see my mom cry because her heart is breaking for me.

When you are having your lunch today and it’s gone, think of me. Think about never feeling full and never being able to stop yourself from eating too much. Think of all of the babies that have and are going though what I am. You can help. Please make a contribution to the PWS association. Any amount will help.

Love,

Amiyah