My name is Pherit.  My momma named me dat cause when I first came home
she kept having to ask daddy "where iz it"..."where iz da ferret".  Momma
said dat da name stuck...so Pherit it iz.  She said dat my name belongs
to every other ferret out there.  That we are all da same.  She said dat
my name reminds me of others dat need help.
 
There is a bad thing out in da world.  It kills us ferrets.  It is
called Aleutian Disease Virus or ADV for short
http://www.ferret-universe.com/health/adv.html.  She said there is no
real funding for research on it.  There is no cure and no vaccine.
 
ADV attacks the immune system and makes us kids weak.  We get sick
easily.  We can die from a week to 2 years after we exposed.
 
This ADV thingy is really bad cause it means dat da kids with it can't
go play with normal kids.  I tell her dat they look normal kids so there
shouldn't be any harm in it.  Momma told me dat if an ADV kid played with
a normal kid that the normal one could very easily get ADV.  She said
that it spreads quietly and quickly.
 
I asked mommy why don't we get rid of dhis ADV thing then.  It no good
to have around if it makin' us sick.  She said dat they are tryin.  But
it goes slow cause they don't have money.  Can you believe that people
don't care about ADV?  Momma said that it is just people that don't have
ferrets and don't understand it.
 
Da University of Georgia is studying ADV and trying to come up with a
vacinne for it.  Wouldn't dat be cool?  Momma told me that every year SOS
does a 4th of July Card Exchange and dat the money dat they raise goes to
da university to help with their ADV research!  Isn't dat cool?
 
Did you know that you didn't have to be involved in the card exchange
though?  This nice SOS lady said that she is collecting all of the money
for the research and will put it into da total raised for the Card
Exchange.
 
She even set something up so you can watch da money grow!
http://www.geocities.com/imdella/4th.html
 
I told momma dat people are lazy and wouldn't send money.
 
Judy Cooke
851 Burnt Pond Road
Ostrander, Oh  43061
 
She said dat not nice and I no get treats.  She said dat you all would
send money to help.  She said dat they have to make the check or money
order out to 'University Foundation'.
 
I trust momma so I know you all gonna do it.  Momma said there like 3000
people on this list.  Dhat a lot of people!  Dhey tryin to raise $1,000.
But wit dat many people I think we can raise more than dat.  What do you
dhink?
 
I gonna be botherin' ya all for awhile cause I wanna see them raise money
for this.  I no wanna get sick.  Please, will you help me and my family
not get sick?  Can you send a dollar or two or more to dhem?  Please?
 
I make you a deal.  For every hundred dollars dhat gets raised I tell ya
a story.  Ya like dhat?
 
Please, help me not get sick.
Luv,
Pherit
[Posted in FML issue 4189]