News and Events :: DSRTF News

Tennessee Dad Pushes Mice for Down Syndrome Research
Ansley Haman
March 14, 2005 | KnoxNews.com

Down syndrome, the condition that results when an extra chromosome is replicated during cell division, was new to Herron, who said he wasn't prepared after his daughter's birth.

"It was hard," the Greenback resident said. "That's why I want to do
everything I can to help with Down syndrome."

Herron is introducing in Tennessee the Adopt-A-Mouse program, established
last fall in Texas to raise money for the Down Syndrome Research and
Treatment Foundation. Each stuffed toy can be purchased for a $21 minimum donation.

The program was the brainchild of 11-year-old Erin Cashion, a Texas resident whose 7-year-old brother, Neal, has Down syndrome. Erin wanted to help and seven of her classmates joined her, said Erin's mother, Teresa Cody.

Cody said the grassroots element of the fund-raiser is helping to unite families with Down syndrome children across the nation.

"We're kind of separated all over the states," she said, but families have begun to discover the program.

NBC sent a news crew to Houston to interview Cody's family, and the newsman "has a Down syndrome child," Cody said.

Local television affiliates across the country ran the news story, and Cody soon was mailing mice all over the country.

Adopt-A-Mouse has raised more than $30,000 so far, Cody said.

The goal is for the project to donate $105,000 to the Down Syndrome Research and Treatment Foundation, which is raising funds for research at Stanford University, where scientists are studying the brain function of mice with Down syndrome, Cody said.

Ansley Haman may be reached at 865-342-6430.

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