Greenback Dad Pushes Mice for Down Syndrome Research

Walter Herron, father of a 16-month-old with Down syndrome, is encouraging East Tennesseans to adopt mice — stuffed ones — to support research.

Down syndrome, the condition that results when an extra chromosome is replicated during cell division, was new to Herron, who said he wasn’t prepared after his daughter’s birth.

“It was hard,” the Greenback resident said. “That’s why I want to do everything I can to help with Down syndrome.”

Herron is introducing in Tennessee the Adopt-A-Mouse program, established last fall in Texas to raise money for the Down Syndrome Research and Treatment Foundation. Each stuffed toy can be purchased for a $21 minimum donation.

The program was the brainchild of 11-year-old Erin Cashion, a Texas resident whose 7-year-old brother, Neal, has Down syndrome.

Erin wanted to help and seven of her classmates joined her, said Erin’s mother, Teresa Cody.

Cody said the grassroots element of the fund-raiser is helping to unite families with Down syndrome children across the nation.

“We’re kind of separated all over the states,” she said, but families have begun to discover the program.

NBC sent a news crew to Houston to interview Cody’s family, and the newsman “has a Down syndrome child,” Cody said.

Local television affiliates across the country ran the news story, and Cody soon was mailing mice all over the country.

Adopt-A-Mouse has raised more than $30,000 so far, Cody said.

The goal is for the project to donate $105,000 to the Down Syndrome Research and Treatment Foundation, which is raising funds for research at Stanford University, where scientists are studying the brain function of mice with Down syndrome, Cody said.

Ansley Haman may be reached at 865-342-6430.

ADOPT-A-MOUSE

* What: Stuffed mice to benefit Down syndrome research

* Price: $21; tax-deductible

* Whom to contact: Walter Herron, 865-856-9631 or walterruh2002@yahoo.com

* Web site: www.adoptamouse.com