SmileLines

It’s hard to believe that only one year ago Alison and I sat and wondered if we could even make this foundation happen. Suffice it to say, we didn’t. Without the help, guidance and support of so many that gave selflessly to our effort, we would never have gotten it off the ground. From the creativity and boundless energy of friends and family we created something wonderful from the ashes of the nightmare that devistated our lives only 2 years ago. At year’s end we had collected over $62,000.00 and converted 81% into funding for Duchenne research. With most of our startup and operational costs now depreciated into year one, we look forward to increasing the donation to research ratio in 2009. I can’t thank all of you enough for your time, efforts, and unswaying commitment to ending this disease.

Continues smiles,
Matt

As the 30 foot long white limousine pulled onto our street all three of the boys knew something was up. The time had come for a Wish Party! Back in February, the Make-A-Wish Foundation chose Nolan and Jack as “Wish Recipients” and the time had come to unveil their dreams come true. The family all piled into the limo courtesy of Caz Limo and headed to Red Robin where other family members joined us and the party ensued. The boys were greeted by tons of smiles and presents, which were donated by the employees of our local Red Robin. An amazing effort considering they were notified of the party only 2 days prior. Following dinner Nolan was informed that he would be receiving his swimming pool and Jack would be taking the family on a week long vacation to Disney World. They were beside themselves with excitement and it was all possible through the efforts of Make-A-Wish and their contributors. Caleb was also given a wish thanks to his favorite Uncle Ron who earlier in the year rewarded him with a set of tickets to a Boston Red Sox / New York Yankees game to be held at the famous Fenway Park in Boston this September. Three very lucky boys with three very tremendous gifts. Thank you to all who have made this possible.

Continued Smiles,
Matt

The Willis family packed up and headed West on Saturday, May 17th for our semi-annual check up of the twins at Cincinnati Childrens Hospital. All the news was very positive. Both boys have remained on the growth chart which is good news considering their daily regime includes a fairly powerful steroid. Respiratory and cardiac function remains normal and their dexterity and muscle mass is very good. A Dexa scan has revealed some bone loss which we may have to address with yet another medication. Alison is currently researching our options to see what the appropriate action is. All three of the boys were troopers, remaining civil through almost 6 hours of MRI’s and countless tests, not to mention the ten hour ride to and froe. The monotony was broken up by a family trip to “All American Stadium” to witness the Cincinnati Reds take on and beat the Cleveland Indians. It was the boy’s 1st Major League Baseball game and they got to watch 2 double plays and a home run which was capped off with fireworks. Jack almost fell out of Mom’s lap as a result of all the excitement.

Our next trip won’t be until Spring of ’09 as a result of all the positive finding of this trip. Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers.

Continued Smiles,
Matt

After months of effort put forth by many gifted people, I’m happy to inform you all that our formal launch letters we’re mailed out yesterday morning. We will be following this up with the much anticipated “Tee Off For The Twins” golf tournament sign up forms. More information on the tournament is coming and sign up forms will be available through this site. Registration forms that you can print, fill out, and mail with your payment will be available the week of 3/31/08. The tournament committee is looking for sponsors and prizes to ensure a successful inaugural tournament. If your able to help with either, please contact Steve at stephen_goodnough@ yahoo.com or myself at matt@twosmilesonehope.com. Thank you to all who have contributed to the development of the foundation. Together we will win this fight.

Continued Smiles
Matt

3boyssmile

Originally uploaded by twosmilesonehope

Our new web site is live (yahoo!). We had most fun pulling together pictures of the boys for use on the site.

Want to see more? Visit our Flickr site to see others that didn’t “make the cut” (but are still very cute!).

Through our smilelines, our Foundation blog, we will keep you up-to-date with Foundation news, event announcements, and research updates.