Dear Family and Friends,

It has been one whole year since our amazingly successful Angelman Syndrome Walk-A-Thon.   I am proud to announce that Team Danika will be hitting the pavement again this year on May 17th in Sacramento.  Last year, the Sacramento site raised over $180,000 and your contributions to Team Danika accounted for a large chunk of that amount.  I can't thank you enough for all of your generosity.  As a result, ASF was able to fund more research projects then ever before. They are doing really amazing things with the money that was raised.  I have been fortunate enough to participate in two of the studies that you directly funded.  One is a vitamin/supplement treatment trial in South Carolina and the other is a Gastro Intestinal Study at UCLA.  They are also studying seizures and trying to figure out why me and my Angel friends have these miserable things.  Because A.S. is so rare, we don't get much outside funding.  The Walkathon is our main source of funds and crucial to improving the lives of all children with A.S.

To learn more about Angelman Syndrome, you can visit www.angelman.org

A lot of wonderful things have happened to me and my family this last year.  (Click on this link to see a quick slideshow) 

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For one, I am the proudest big sister of my baby brother Evan.  He and I are getting to know each other and he especially likes my favorite “steam roller” game…. He lays and I roll on top of him.  As for my progress, I am making tons!!  I learned how to four-point crawl and am cruising everywhere.  I am now able to stand if I have something to hold onto and can take steps if someone helps me balance.  My goal is to be walking by my 3rd birthday on September 6th.  Dad has promised me a huge party if I can pull that one off so mark your calendar, drinks are on him!!! 

 I am still receiving lots of therapy at home.  My therapists are wonderful people and are teaching me so many new things. I am still receiving physical, occupational, communication/speach, and aquatic therapies.   The newest activity is Hippo therapy where I get to ride a pretty horse named JD.

Believe it or not, I still find time to play with my friends, take walks to the park, ride my trike, and give out the best snuggles to my favorite people. 

I am so lucky to have such  great friends and family members.  I hope you can join us again in Sacramento on May 17th at William Land Park.  This year the walk will be bigger and better than last year so I hope you can all make it.  

I realize that last year  will be tough to match but even if we can raise a fraction of that amount it will still be a huge success.

We hope to see you on Saturday.  There is no need to register for the Walk on this website.  Just show up with your walking shoes on.  If you can't make the walk you can still make a donation using this webpage.  If you prefer to donate via check, you can mail checks to:  Angelman Syndrome Foundation c/o Greg Dohrmann  PO Box 7276  Stockton, CA 95267                         

All my love,

Danika Dohrmann