Posted by Jeanette at 7:08 AM

It's me again, Jeanette. I would have posted more yesterday, but I was often very busy explaining what a "blog" was, and what I was doing (or, much more accurately, letting Bryan do because I was too busy talking with people). I also told lots of people about Marfan-List, so maybe we'll be hearing from some new people soon. This year's conference was the biggest ever. Around 700 people participated. The hotel rooms were sold out and more had to be found at another hotel. The conference was one of the most family-friendly ever, as the cost was kept down as much as possible. This was due in very large part to the St. Louis Area Chapter of the NMF (I need to find the exact title of their chapter -- I'm not sure that's it), and to Dr. Alan Braverman's efforts at fund-raising.

Next year's conference will be in Philadelphia. I really hope as many people as possible can come! Over 100 people were able to come because of assistance with "scholarships." There are three scholarship programs available. People donate money to help others be able to afford coming. I'll post more information about scholarships when I get back home, but for now, I want to thank EVERYONE who has donated to a scholarship fund to help individuals and families come, and to thank everyone who has taken advantage of the scholarships to come. Everyone learns from everyone else when people share, so when more people come, the better the program is for everyone.

I've got to get ready now to go to a meeting about the "Quality of Life" for a Marfan-affected person at 7 a.m. (quality of life?? 7:00 a.m.??). I got lots of pictures at the conference, and there were lots of cameras going off all over the place, so I'll be sharing more pictures later (after the Blogathon).

Jeanette