Today, Oct. 1, is my daughter Violet’s 5th birthday. Five should mean so many things: playdates with friends and learning to read and playing dress-up and running in the backyard. Violet can’t do any of these things, not without a lot of help. She has never walked. She can’t stand or eat or play on her own. She can’t use words to tell us if she’s hungry or tired or bored or mad or if she loves us. We do not really know what she wants for her birthday because she cannot really tell us. We know what we want, though: some treatments (and maybe a cure?) for Rett syndrome.

So, against my better judgment and the screaming aches and pains of my body, this year I am training to run in a half-marathon to raise money for Rett syndrome research. I hate running. I hate Rett syndrome more. I’m running because my daughter can’t. Please support us. Any amount can help. Thank you!!

Love,

Laura and Violet

(and Noah, Calvin and Elodie Berlin, too)