Dear Family and Friends,

I’ve decided to do something a little wild. This April I will be running my first marathon, and it will be the Boston Marathon. 

I have joined the 2010 Mass Eye and Ear Boston Marathon team to help them meet a goal of $275,000. This money will help to find cures and treatments for a number of eye, ear, nose, throat, and neck diseases that affect millions.

I chose this charity because the cause means a lot to me. My wife, Andie, has an inner ear disorder called Meniere’s Disease. While the bulk of her symptoms were controlled in childhood through surgery, she still suffers from occassional vertigo, buzzing in her ears, and has lost most (75%) of her hearing in one ear. But this is only one example of the types of illnesses treated by Mass Eye and Ear. Mass Eye and Ear is a leader in the field and has some of the fields’ best doctors and researchers, bringing patients from around the globe for treatment.

I am so excited by this partnership that I have committed to a personal goal of raising $5,000.  I hope you will join me by making a gift.   If writing a check is your preference, please make it payable to the Foundation of Mass. Eye and Ear, Inc. and mail it back to me. Email me for my address if this is your preferred method.

Please remember to ask your company if they have a charity donation matching program. A company’s match will double your contribution to help the effort. When making a matching contribution, mail your company’s form back to me with your donation, or if donating online, just the form by itself. If your company has an online matching system, please mail me the receipt from the website to ensure that it’s properly processed.

I look forward to keeping you informed of my progress – both in the training and the fundraising. Please follow me on Twitter (@dephyler), friend me on Facebook (KC Baker), email me (dephyler [at] gmail . com), and keep an eye on my online training log to see how I’m doing (http://runkeeper.com/user/dephyler/activities).

Thank you for your love, inspiration, and generous support.