And the winner of our vote for the 2015 Mykidstime Charity of the Year is…

Join Our Boys Trust

The Join Our Boys Trust was launched on the 9th of March 2014 in Roscommon Town in Ireland. Its mission is:

• To raise awareness of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy nationally & internationally.
• To ensure ‘Our Boys’ have the additional resources they require to function; to remain mobile for as long as is possible and to live a life filled with purpose and meaning, despite their physical limitations .
• To work in collaboration and support registered charities funding research into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy that aim to fund a treatment or cure into this devastating disease.
• To Keep Moving; To Keep Marching; To keep positive and to maintain Hope.

The Trust was established in response to three brothers called Archie, George & Isaac Naughton all being diagnosed with DMD on the same day. DMD is a genetic disease that destroys muscle tissue. The children experience problem with running, walking, hoping, skipping – all gross motor skills.

The children, on average, lose the ability to walk between the ages of 8 – 12 years and require a motorised wheel chair. As a consequence they experience many other complications of immobility. Muscles throughout their body become damaged including those that help with breathing and the heart. They die of respiratory and/or cardiac failure.

A diagnosis of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is devastating. It is a catastrophic, fatal, neuromuscular disease that affects 1 in every 3,500 boys and each year 20,000 children worldwide are born with DMD; 99% of these are boys. It is estimated that currently there are in excess of 250,000 children with DMD. There are no words to describe how it feels to learn that one of your precious children has a terminal illness, which currently has no treatment or cure.

The Trust is a totally voluntary organisation that has three Trustees and an Army of ‘Warriors’ who are determined to be part of the solution in finding a treatment, ideally a cure for all the children with DMD. Time is against us though and we need EVERYONE to learn about DMD, what it is, what it does and why we need a solution as soon as possible. We ask people to tell everyone they know about us all over the World! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter and ask their pals to do likewise. Together we will make a huge difference.

Phone: +353 (0)9066 30000 / Mobile: +353 (0)85 1212 333

Website: joinourboys.org

Find them on Facebook: www.facebook.com/joinourboys

Follow them on Twitter: www.twitter.com/joinourboys

Thanks to everyone who voted, here are the final results:

These are all worthy charities that help and support children and families so we ask you to keep them in mind this year when donating to charity.

PS 2016 Charity Vote nominations will open in December 2015