This fundraiser is to help fulfill the dream of an AMAZING young lady, Ariella Fried, to write a book from a kid to other kids about coping with Autoimmune Disorders.

Many of those in our neighborhood know her well, but for those that don't, let me introduce you!! Ariella is 14 years old, and in spite of her challenges, always wears a warm smile. She has experienced health struggles for most of her life. Ariella has been diagnosed with three auto-immune diseases: Uveitis (which causes inflammation in the eyes that makes her visually impaired), Celiac Disease (which severely limits the foods she can eat because gluten triggers an autoimmune reaction that can impact the rest of her body), and Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, which left her in a wheel chair for months last year, unable to walk or barely move due to the pain, until it was diagnosed and properly treated).

Throughout the entire ordeal, and continuing today, Ariella is managing her conditions, and faces the challenge of having her eyesight fluctuate from better to worse, with multiple surgeries and laser treatments. In her 14 short years, she has overcome the challenges of more pain, anxiety, and surgeries, than most adults do their entire lives: she has had multiple surgeries, laser procedures, scans, tests, even a shot directly to the eyeball!!

However, throughout the entire ordeal, she has been a trooper, and she knew that if SHE had these issues, surely other kids are going through similar problems. The picture above is when she had her first eye surgery a few years ago, and her class-mates had an "eye patch party", to make custom eye patches and for them to let Ariella know that she is loved and supported throughout her travails.

Ariella was granted a wish by the wonderful Make A Wish Foundation, and Ariella selflessly chose as her wish to write a book about her ordeal for other young kids going through similar situations, hopefully helping to alleviate the fear that comes with a diagnoses, doctors visits, shots, treatments, surgeries, visits to the E.R., and so on. There are many books written about these issues, but MOST of those are written by doctors, therapists, parents, and people that went through a disease many years ago. There are very few kid-to-kid books, helping break it down for them on their level and ease their fears.

She has the opportunity to present this book, and hopefully others like it to come in the future, on a national TV show known for getting angel investors or SHARKS (if you get the reference), to help get funding and exposure to be able to distribute her book(s), once completed, to hospitals, schools, libraries, hospices, and other treatment centers across the country, if not the entire world.

This is a ONCE IN A LIFETIME opportunity, but there are barriers involved: writing and publishing a book takes considerable funds, to hire consultants like illustrators, copy editors, proof readers, self-publishing costs, distribution, and much more. We have had many great meetings with lots of wonderful people in the industry, willing to give their guidance and help, and we were able to come up with a number we felt would be the right amount needed to get her book project to completion, in order to present to the investors.

Ariella's dream is for a library in every city to have access to her book. That takes a lot of copies!

PLEASE help by donating and making Ariella's book dream come true. She could have chosen almost ANYTHING to do with her wish, but instead of a lavish vacation, or a meet and greet with a celebrity, she decided to use her wish to help other children in similar positions understand that a diagnosis does not mean a death sentence, and that they can cope and overcome their challenges. A book written in a kid's voice.

If you know Ariella, you can't help but love her, even if you've just met her for the first time. Her warm and bubbly personality makes her friends wherever she goes, even on trips to the doctor, scans, tests, or even the Emergency Room. Having gone through so much in her life already, she was given an opportunity to do WHATEVER she wanted, and she chose to help others in their time of need and help instead. I am immensely proud of her, not just because I am her father, but because she ALWAYS tries to put others first, and now she needs YOUR HELP to enable her to do just that.

PLEASE HELP TODAY, AND FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT TO US WITH ANY QUESTIONS OR THOUGHTS YOU MAY HAVE THAT CAN HELP!!!