Have the Time of your Life and Save Lives

Have the Time of your Life and Save Lives

Everyone who watches "The Amazing Race" thinks "I would love to do that". Now you can. Spinal Muscular Atrophy Association is offering ordinary Australians the chance to participate in their own Amazing Race. Teams will be taken to mystery overseas locations, perform a wide range of challenges while raising money for a worthy cause.

Proceeds from the race will go directly to support services that help the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Association of Australia Inc."Spinal Muscular Atrophy or SMA, is the number one genetic killer of infants under the age of two. It can also occur in adults" explains Julie Cini, CEO of SMA Australia. Each month, around fifty two Australian lives are lost to motor neurone syndromes including SMA. There is no known cure.

SMA is a genetic disease which causes progressive deterioration of motor neurons in the spinal cord. This results in weakness and wasting of the voluntary muscles. Although crawling, walking, sitting, feeding, swallowing and breathing become impaired, intelligence is unaffected. This muscle wasting disease affects 1 in 6,000 live births. Families generally have not heard of SMA until their child or a family member is diagnosed with the disease.

Julie started the charity after her 10 month old daughter, Montanna, died from SMA Type 1 in 2005. The next year, tragedy dealt Julie another cruel blow. Shortly after discovering she was pregnant with her second child her partner was struck and killed by a truck in the driveway of their family home. Julie's second daughter, Zarlee, was also born with SMA Type 1. Zarlee died on Christmas Day, 2007 aged twelve months.

"The SMAmazing Race" will be held throughout October 2013. To enter, racers pay a $500 entrance fee to cover taxes and then raise a minimum of $10,000. "The money raised by each racer will enable the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Association to provide a family with specialist equipment, including a 'Cough Assist' machine. SMA people with weakened or no cough mechanism are unable to bring up secretions. This machine assists with this process and makes the disease more manageable" explains Julie.

Twelve teams of two will spend ten days racing through mystery overseas locations. Racers are given a choice of challenges, which will be similar to those seen on the TV show. Points are awarded for each challenge and an eventual winner is named at the end of each race. Julie adds "The race begins in October 2013 which gives entrants plenty of time to raise the $10,000 entry fee."Everyone who registers receives an information pack and fundraising ideas that will help them reach the $10,000 entry target. SMA will fully support the entrants throughout their fundraising journey.

"All participants are winners. The race will be fun, challenging and memorable long after the last leg has been completed. We hope every racer understands the ongoing difference they will make to families touched by this cruel disease. The SMAmazing Race presents an opportunity for everyday Australians to help a cause that receives no government funding" explains Julie.

"The SMAmazing Race" information packs and corporate sponsorship details are available from: www.smaaustralia.org.au