Sienna’s Flower Garden

How cute is this little girl? Over the past couple of months, since I started working with my agency, I’ve gotten to know a little bit about her. Her name is Sienna, she loves swimming, applesauce, and flowers. Sienna also has a rare disease called FOP that could turn her into a human statue. The disease turns soft tissue into bone; any bump or bruise Sienna gets could result in unbearable pain and restricted movement. Eventually, she may have to decide whether to sit or stand for her whole life.

The good news? There’s big time hope for this little girl and others suffering from FOP. A real treatment, and possibly a cure, is thisclose. Researchers just need $1 million for clinical trials, and Sienna’s Flower Garden is going to raise it.  Since Sienna loves flowers, Sienna’s Flower Garden lets supporters plant virtual flowers starting at just $5 each, the price of a latte. The hope is that through social media, we can spread the word so well, that raising $1 million would be an easy task. When the site launched, I was naïve enough to think that it could be done in a matter of weeks! Surely $1 million isn’t THAT much. . .

Since the site launched in December, it’s raised over $47,000 which is pretty great. There’s a lot more to go, and we would appreciate any sharing that you could do. Imagine being able to see right in front of you that you saved a life over the next year!

I try not to post too often about causes I care about since this is mostly a travel, food, and wine blog, but this one is too important and too solveable not to shout from the rooftops. If you have a spare tweet or Facebook update today, please share siennasflowergarden.com, and help give this beautiful little girl a bright future!