News and Events :: DSRTF News

NBC Reports on Adopt-a-Mouse Effort in Houston
January 7, 2005

The first week in January, NBC affiliate stations across the country aired a story produced by Dallas reporter Jay Gray about a group of school children in Houston who are raising money for Down syndrome research through DSRTF's Adopt-a-mouse program.

The story filmed the 11 and 12-year-old students as they prepared orders of stuffed mice for shipment in a parent's garage. One of the students, Erin Cashion, said that she and her friends were inspired to start the adopt-a-mouse fundraising campaign by her little brother, Neal, who has Down syndrome. "We wanted to help him because he wants to read and he can't hold the information in his head about how to read what the sounds make," she said. "He wants to read 'Peter Pan' so bad, but he can't read it. And that's kind of where this whole thing took off."

Erin said they came up the idea of using stuffed mice for the fundraising campaign because Down syndrome researchers use special genetic-engineered mice in studies, "and they didn't have enough mice." The students send the stuffed mice to contributors who send in $21 - an amount that represents the 21st chromosome, which causes the abnormalities associated with Down syndrome. In the first week, the students raised more than $6,000 from contributors all across the county and in Canada. They hope to raise $100,000 by the end of the year.

The story also interviewed Drs. Craig Garner and William Mobley of the Stanford Center for Research and Treatment of Down Syndrome. Dr. Mobley stated that recent scientific advances have created the "perfect storm" for Down syndrome research, giving scientists hope that treatments will be possible.