For the fifth straight year, SUNY Cortland head football coach Dan MacNeill and his assistants will be among many coaching staffs nationwide to participate in the American Football Coaches Association's (AFCA) “Coach to Cure MD” charitable project. The event takes place this Saturday, Sept. 29, when the Red Dragons host Montclair St. University.
 
Cortland's coaches will be wearing a “Coach to Cure MD” logo patch during the game to show their support for the program, which looks to fight Duchenne (pronounced Doo-SHEEN) Muscular Dystrophy. Fans can donate to muscular dystrophy research either online at www.CoachToCureMD.org or by texting the word “CURE” to 90999 to automatically donate $5 from their mobile phones (standard text message rates apply).

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is the most common fatal genetic disorder diagnosed during childhood. Because the Duchenne gene is found on the X-chromosome, it primarily affects boys and occurs across all races and cultures.

Boys and young men with Duchenne lack dystrophin, a protein critical to the structural stability of muscle fibers. Patients develop progressive muscle weakness that eventually causes loss of mobility, wheelchair dependency and a decline in respiratory and cardiac function. Currently, there is no cure for Duchenne and limited therapeutic options exist.

The AFCA is joining with the Parent Project for Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD) to make Coach to Cure MD a reality and generate support for research using the nationwide, one-day, game-day event.

Last year, more than 10,000 college coaches at 505 different institutions participated in Coach to Cure MD events. Both of those figured are well higher than in any of the program's first three years (2008-10). The four-year fundraising total is just over $1 million.

Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD) is a national not-for-profit organization founded in 1994 by parents of children with Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy. The organization's mission is to end Duchenne. We accelerate research, raise our voices in Washington, demand optimal care for all young men and educate the global community. PPMD is headquartered in Middletown, Ohio with offices in Fort Lee, New Jersey. For more information, visit www.parentprojectmd.org.