Research Funding:

Volunteer patient organized fundraising events have been successful in raising funds for research. Thanks are extended to Laur Galvez and the City of Ogden, Utah for promotion of the first annual “Rolling Like Thunder”, a fundraising motorcycle rally. We are grateful to Kelly Pickens, of Atlanta, Georgia for organizing a gospel singing fundraiser in her community. Since our last conference here in Austin, our organization has provided $7000 to Morgellons Research at Oklahoma State University, Center for Health Sciences, and Center for Investigation of Morgellons Disease. With future fundraising events in the planning, our goal is to double this amount for 2009. We appreciate the gifts of money, time, and resources from a number of individual donors. We want to applaud Bessie Glavas, Florida Morgellons patient for her generous donation of $12,000 to the OSU-CIMD for specific research projects. Thank you so much Bessie! Thanks to anyone who may be planning a fundraising event in your own community. These events raise money and awareness at the same time.

Many thanks are extended to Dr. Randy Wymore, Dr. Rhonda Casey and the team at OSU-CIMD for their continuous commitment and endless hours devoted to finding answers to this medical mystery.

We are grateful for the Investigation of Morgellons Disease instituted by the Centers for Disease Control in partnership with Kaiser Permanente. We sure do hope for an update on this investigation soon!

Public Awareness and Medical Education:

We are grateful to Dr. Randy Wymore and Dr. Ginger Savely for the numerous presentations on Morgellons given to a variety of audiences in the medical community. They will be presenting Morgellons at a national physician’s conference in October, 2009. Realizing the challenges of treating a condition about which so little is known, we thank the many physicians who have taken the time to reach out on behalf of their patients to obtain information about Morgellons.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Amelia M. Withington to our Medical Advisory Board. Dr. Withington joins our team with enthusiasm and dedication to medical education, recognition and research of Morgellons.

We are extremely grateful to each of our guest speakers present today, who have volunteered to provide this audience information on every known aspect of Morgellons. Gratitude is extended to Joy English and the WestOak Woods Baptist Church for providing this venue for today’s conference.

Thank you Discovery Health Channel, Inside Edition, Doctor Phil, Self Magazine, Public Health Alert, multiple radio broadcasts, and others for providing in-depth coverage of Morgellons. The “Mystery ER” segment on Morgellons has aired more than 8 times on a variety of networks.

Due to your support of our DVD project from last year’s conference, we were able to distribute over 100 complimentary sets of DVDs and brochures as educational tools to medical professionals across the U.S.

Thank you to volunteers, Deborah Corrigan, Cliff Mickelson, Terry Cornelius, Daryl Crocket, and Laur Galvez whose volunteer time has made it possible to set up Morgellons educational booths at medical conferences and public events.

We are thankful to Katie Corkren and Gwen Simmons for lending your artistic talents to our printed materials and to Chris and Robert Beasley for your help with the website and the program booklets.

Patient Support:

We are grateful for the patient support provided by our nursing advisory panel. I would like to extend a warm welcome to Lynn Seybold, RN, MSN to our nursing panel. Many thanks are extended to Cherie Larimore and to each of you who have reached out to new patients providing support and encouragement. We applaud Dr. Cheryl Reed, Karen Winter-Christy, RN, and Bessie Glavas for the success of the support group in the Tampa Bay region of Florida. We are thankful for all support groups that have formed across the nation as well as posting boards that are being provided for Morgellons discussions.

We appreciate the allies we have formed with other organizations and the support they have facilitated to Morgellons patients and to the endeavors of this foundation.

I would also like to thank the Board of Directors and Officers of the Charles E. Holman Foundation as well as my wonderful friends and family for your tremendous support. I will be forever grateful to my dear husband, Charles E. Holman, for initially authoring “Cindy’s Diary” and for giving me the love, confidence, and courage to continue his mission to get Morgellons Disease the recognition and research it deserves.

Finally, I would like to thank all of those who were not mentioned in this letter.

We have an exciting meeting agenda that covers everything from research updates to coping with this illness from a patient perspective. Our goal is to educate healthcare providers as well as patients about every known aspect of Morgellons and to provide information and support to those who suffer from this potentially devastating illness.

We hope that all of you will come away from this conference with new information about Morgellons Disease that will help to enlighten your colleagues and bring hope to the suffering patients around the world.

The Charles E. Holman Foundation is grateful to all of you for taking the time to attend and participate in today’s event.

Enjoy the conference!

Cindy Casey, RN, Director
The New Morgellons Order/
The Charles E. Holman Foundation
http://www.thenmo.org

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” _{Margaret Mead}

Hartford, CT (AHN) – A doctors group has agreed to reassess its national guidelines on diagnosing and treating Lyme disease after an antitrust investigation revealed serious flaws in the way the guidelines were set.

The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has agreed to reassess its 2006 Lyme disease guidelines with the help of an outside arbiter after it was criticized by Lyme disease patients. The group’s 2006 guidelines say there is no evidence that chronic Lyme disease exists or that long-term antibiotic treatment is effective.

The IDSA’s guidelines also say Lyme disease can be treated in most cases with a 30-day course of oral antibiotics.

However, critics say Lyme disease is difficult to diagnose and can last for years. They also charge the disease requires treatment with antibiotics for six months or longer.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal launched an antitrust investigation into the patient’s complaints. The IDSA guidelines are often used by insurance companies to prohibit long-term antibiotic treatment or other medical care.

To read the entire article, please click HERE

The overuse of antibiotics can cause drug-resistant infections that are difficult or even impossible to treat. IDSA claims that it has never been proven that chronic Lyme disease is a real condition—patients may have something else instead. Advocates for chronic Lyme disease say IDSA’s guidelines discourage proper treatment.

To read the entire article, please click HERE

Many of you have asked for us to post the latest news that may affect you directly, so our staff has been directed to scour the news for important new developments. We also ask you to send us important news so we can share it with the researchers and scientists we communicate with frequently.

You can simply send links to your news and we will do the rest. Morgellons and Lyme disease are horrible and we all need to work together to help scientists and researchers.

Your efforts might just make a difference so email us at: sales@NutraSilver.com.

CDC Speaks Out on Morgellons Disease on CBS News

The Centers For Disease Control has finally spoken about their investigation in San Francisco on ABC News. Apparently, they intend to conclude their investigation within one year and they still have no idea what Morgellons is.

To view their video, please click HERE.

If you would like to see the CDC’s official website, please click HERE.