14 News, The Tri-State's News and Weather Leader-MDA Telethon raised big bucks

MDA Telethon raised big bucks

By Chad Sewich - bio | email | Twitter
Posted by Sarah Harlan - email

EVANSVILLE, IN (WFIE) - The 39th Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon on 14 WFIE is now over, and thanks to our viewers, $612,927 was raised locally to help in the fight against muscular dystrophy, but getting this years telethon on the air was no easy task.

This year's MDA telethon was like no other.

"What a night," 14 WFIE's Mike Blake said. "In our 39 years of 14 hosting the telethon, we've never had anything like this."

Sunday night's nearly non-stop lightning show disrupted WFIE's broadcast from the Manor at St. Mary's, but once the crew found a new way to get the signal to viewers, the MDA telethons famous tote board began clicking away.

"Everybody associates MDA with the telethon, so it's huge," MDA fundraising coordinator Shanna Gunn said. "We like to bring in as much money as we can because this is our one chance to show off our patients, and everybody gets to meet our Goodwill ambassador and really see where their money is going towards."

This year's MDA Goodwill ambassador is six-year-old Caleb McDowell of Eddyville, Kentucky.

Caleb was diagnosed with a form of limb-girdle MDA when he was just three-years-old.

"We actually thought he had something wrong with his bones or something like that is what our doctor at first thought, but after some tests, we learned that it was actually muscular dystrophy," Caleb's father, Jeff McDowell said.

Caleb and his family are spending the year educating local communities about muscular dystrophy.

"It's just been a great honor, and we've had a lot of people in our area that haven't even heard of the MDA," Caleb's mother Lori McDowell said.

The outpouring of community support, including hundreds of telethon volunteers, proves the message doesn't go unnoticed.

"This is what it is all about, trying to find a cure so there's hope out there," Lori said. "MDA gives us hope as a family."

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