Baby Isabella Carrillo
Daughter of Weld County 9-1-1 Dispatcher (CO)

Dear 911 CARES:

One of our dispatchers, Alejandra Carrillo gave birth to a little girl last year who was diagnosed with Prader-Willi Syndrome, a very rare syndrome.  After an early emergency c-section and about a month spent in Children’s Hospital in Denver, CO; Alejandra cut down her hours at work so that she would have the necessary time off to be able to take her daughter to therapy and be available for her many needs.  Alejandra and her family have been doing what they can to learn the necessary skills to be able to provide for this little girl.  Alejandra has been taking sign language classes from one of the local colleges as well as researching as much as she can into her daughter’s special needs.  The following request took a lot of guts for Alejandra to send out.  I would appreciate it if you would post this for other 911 agencies to be able to view as the following information is beneficial to a precious little girl who needs a lot of assistance from all of us.

Thank you so much,
Ralene Poncelow
(contact Ralene directly if you’d like to help)
Dispatch Supervisor
Weld County Regional Communications Center
1950 O St
Greeley, CO 80634

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December 27, 2007

Dear Friends and Family,

I have pledged to become an Incredible Loser, and I need your help and support.  Now, I know your thinking that I’m already a loser but let me explain what I am doing and why I need your help.

I am participating in the Third Annual Prader-Willi Syndrome Lose-A-Thon to benefit the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association (USA).  Each participant in the PWS Lose-A-Thon pledges to lose a given amount of weight by May 31, 2008 (May is PWS Awareness Month) and to raise donations for PWSA (USA).  Since losing weight is a very personal struggle, the program allows each participant to choose his own weight loss goal, his own start date, and his own method of losing weight.  However, any participant who raises at least $1,000 and loses their goal weight by May 31st earns the coveted honor of becoming an “Incredible Loser.” Needless to say, I’m shooting for the big title.

Why am I doing this?  Well, in the first place, I need to lose weight and I’ve needed to do it for a long time. I will be the first to admit it. This is why I am confident that by announcing this to a few hundred of my closest friends and relatives I will have lost at least 20 pounds by May 31st 2008. By telling you, I hope that you will be able to give me that extra push I need to stick with it and lose all the weight!  More importantly, though, I am doing this to support a very good cause, and one that is especially close to my heart; my baby girl Isabella whom was diagnosed with PWS. 

Many of you might not be familiar with PWS so here is a little information. PWS is a randomly caused genetic disorder (due, essentially, to a missing slice of genetic material) that typically results in mild to moderate cognitive impairment, a variety of problem behaviors, and a chronic feeling of hunger which, absent close supervision, leads to excessive eating and life-threatening obesity. It is the leading genetic cause of obesity in children, and it affects 1 in every 12,000 to 15,000 live births (see www.pwsausa.org or call 800.926.4797 for more information on PWS). PWSA (USA) is a national organization that is dedicated to improving the lives of all persons who have PWS and supporting them at every stage of life. Through research, publications, crisis counseling, parent mentoring, educational conferences, a fantastic Web site and a host of other services, this relatively small organization works miracles daily.

I feel so fortunate to be Isabella’s mom. If we all tried to apply to ourselves to the eating discipline imposed on Isabella we would have no weight problem at all.

In any case, I am asking you to consider helping me with this fundraising effort. There are a couple of different ways to donate. I have added a hyperlink that is located that at the bottom of this page if you would like to print out a donation form. All the information is on the form but if you have any questions please feel free to email me. Conveniently you all now have my email address. The 2nd way is a little easier; I have a personal Lose-A-Thon web page at http://www.pwsausa.org/fundraising/lose-a-thon/alejandrac.asp so you can make instant donations using your credit or debit cards. We can all be winners in this because your entire donation is tax-deductible!

I know we just got over the holidays, so please don’t feel obligated to donate money at this time.  I would be more than happy if you could simply support me with your encouragement and good wishes.  When the going gets rough, I try to remind myself that the hunger I feel is nothing compared to what Isabella and others who have to live with PWS experience every minute of every day, regardless of how much they have eaten.  If they can hang in there, so can I. For those of you who took the time to read this, I thank you from the bottom of my heart and so does my family! I am confident that we will find a cure for PWS!

Sincerely,
Alejandra Carrillo
Dispatcher 1

http://www.pwsausa.org/fundraising/lose-a-thon/Lose-A-thon.pdf