Orginally, I come from a small town in southwest Ohio, and moved to northeast Ohio for school. I love living in NE Ohio, but still feel very connected to my hometown because many friends and family still live there. While I have been away at school a young lady who goes by the name Corynna became ill and was eventually diagnosed with Mitochondrial Disease. For those of you who do not know Mitochondrial Disease is: the "failure of the mitochondria, specialized compartments present in every cell of the body except red blood cells. Mitochondria are responsible for creating more than 90% of the energy needed by the body to sustain life and support growth. When they fail, less and less energy is generated within the cell. Cell injury and even cell death follow. If this process is repeated throughout the body, whole systems begin to fail, and the life of the person in whom this is happening is severely compromised" (United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation).
Corynna was an incredible person. She did not let this disease define who she was, but instead embraced it to help raise awareness about this horrible disease. In one interview that she did around Thanksgiving she said : Mitochondrial Disease kills a lot of kids, but nobody knows about it, and I have a huge problem with that."She took this to an all time high. My hometown came together like i have never seen for this young woman. Local businesses donated time and money to add an addition to the families home to allow Corynna to be around her family, a Christmas parade was put on outside her window a few weeks ago so she could celebrate Christmas, the list goes on and on. One in particular that struck me was a local T-shirt company who created shirts for the public to buy, and all the proceeds would go to an organization of Corynna's choice. As of late, this total reaches upwards of $5,000! Corynna's goal was for our town to raise $10,000 to donate towards research to help fight and end this horrible disease. I have no doubt that this will happen. I have never been prouder to call this place my home.
I have known Corynna for many years. I actually helped teach her dance (and watched her compete) when she was younger. She had this infectious smile that would just light up the room when she walked in. She moved to a different night of dance and her smile left with her. Then I graduated and moved away for school. Years had passed, and I heard of her illness through friends, family, etc. This past summer, however, I went home to help my former dance teacher with her annual dance review. One night I walked into the high school girls dressing room, and who was there...Corynna! She recognized me right away, hugged me and asked how I had been. It blew me away to see that at first all I could see what her illness, but when she began to speak all I could see was her. There it was again, that infectious smile. That smile is something that stuck with her always.
Unfortunately, Corynna took her last breath this morning (December 11,2013). In the end Corynna instructed her family to her followers on the Facebook page "Courage for Corynna" this: "I won my battle with Mitochondrial Disease. I went home. Earth is our temporary home and God let's our family have us for a while". What an incredible young woman. I know she has touched and changed the hearts of many while she was here on this Earth, but I know that she will touch so many more even now.
So, today my random act of kindness is for Corynna. Today I made a donation to the same organization that Corynna's money will go to. She wanted to help end Mitochondrial Disease, and so do I. Today, Corynna, my random act of kindness was done in your memory so that one day another incredible child will be able to live. RIP Corynna.
If you want to learn more about Mitochondrial Disease or make a donation in Corynna's memory you can visit the website below.
http://www.umdf.org/site/pp.aspx?c=8qKOJ0MvF7LUG&b=7929671
If you want to read about Corynna's story you can also visit this website. Corynna's main goal was to spread awareness of this terrible disease, so please, go and read about it. I know that as a community we can help end Mitochondrial Disease.
https://www.facebook.com/CourgeforCorynna
Mitochondrial
disease kills a lot of kids, but nobody knows about it, and I have a
huge problem with that," - See more at:
http://www.whio.com/news/news/local/girl-16-greenville-passes-away-incurable-disease/ncHyY/#sthash.gl6nUAEw.dpuf
Mitochondrial
disease kills a lot of kids, but nobody knows about it, and I have a
huge problem with that," - See more at:
http://www.whio.com/news/news/local/girl-16-greenville-passes-away-incurable-disease/ncHyY/#sthash.gl6nUAEw.dpuf
Mitochondrial
disease kills a lot of kids, but nobody knows about it, and I have a
huge problem with that," - See more at:
http://www.whio.com/news/news/local/girl-16-greenville-passes-away-incurable-disease/ncHyY/#sthash.gl6nUAEw.dpuf
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