To the Memory of Juliana Turse-James
This campaign is to honor the Memory of Juliana Turse-James and her advocacy for finding a cure for NMO.
Juliana in the Land of Forgotten Toys
There is a subculture in our society similar to the Land of forgotten toys presented in Toy Story. In the movie, bald Barbies, fire trucks without wheels, and one-armed, monocular robots are abandoned in favor of newer and fully functional replacements.
Unfortunately, society has its own equivalent of discarded toys. I see these castoffs in the waiting rooms of neurologists. I would never have noticed had I not been one of them.
Suffering from disease or injury is compounded when society abandons us in favor of the healthy. Sickness and injury can be dealt with. The way people see and treat those with a disability cannot. Because we are different, we are avoided, pitied, ignored, and discarded. Put away in society’s figurative toy box. Although very much alive, we are denied a meaningful role in life.
Our culture puts much time, energy, and resources into sustaining life. However, restoring quality of life is left to the very person that is least capable, the disabled. We must fend for ourselves. Out of sight, out of mind.
Hope for recovery sustains me, but I need to be involved in society to my greatest capacity and potential.
Until there is a cure for every disease and prevention of all accidents and illnesses, we have a social and moral obligation not to diminish the humanity of our fellow beings.
~ Juliana – 2006
Over the years, many of you have been with me at MS Walks, raising money and consciousness for the disease. Several of you have supported me from afar, donating funds to the MS Society. Recently my diagnosis has been narrowed to the rare but more severe variant Neuromyelitis Optica (NMO) or Devic’s Disease.
~ Juliana – 2013
Recent Donors
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Arlene Peters
$200.00 -
Nancy Harvey
$100.00 -
Aliza Becker
$18.00 -
Bobby Mercader
$100.00 -
Sam James
$250.00 -
Juliana Turse-James
$1,200.00
