Dancin' For Charity, Moonwalk Style

The World Record for the Longest Moonwalk in One Hour is currently 1.6 miles held by Adam Hall in Denver, Colorado. Through a national release of the documentary, ERDF of Los Angeles, California will help raise awareness about this rare disease to millions of viewers worldwide.

On Friday, March 9th, 2007, starting at 3pm and ending at 4pm (PST), Gabriel Wilson, of North Hollywood, will attempt to shatter the world record for his cousin, Brandon Wilson, who suffers from ERD. His hope is to shed some much-needed light on the disease. His journey will be filmed for the documentary and released at a later date this summer.

“ERDF is hoping to attract at least 1,000 onlookers at the finish line on the Las Vegas Strip to cheer on Gabriel as he ends his triumphant journey”, Executive Director Dan Sawyer said. There will be live entertainment by an award-winning marching band; their unique version of Michael Jackson's Beat It, appropriately called Beat It On The Strip, is the official song. Concert tickets, official t-shirts, gift certificates, iPods, and other prizes will be handed out to the people that demonstrate the most cheer for Gabriel.

"People get really excited about the Moonwalk, it is a perennial favorite", Sawyer said. "Old people, young people, it doesn't matter."

After the event, all participants are encouraged to send photos of them and their friends doing the Moonwalk on The Las Vegas Strip to cjohns@excessiveregenerativedisease.org. These photos will be assembled into a montage that will later be edited into the documentary.

The Excessive Regenerative Disease Foundation was created in 2004 to raise awareness for this rare disease. Only 112 people in the United States suffer from this disease, so many citizens are completely unaware of this rare affliction. The Government recognizes ERD and the plight of those affected, however the funding is miniscule due to the small number of patients. In a concentrated effort to increase awareness and funding, ERDF will be holding many fundraising events in 2007.

Excessive Regenerative Disease is a disorder of both the neurological and the cellular systems. The disease is the result of the body being born with a defective chromosome that keeps dividing over time, causing extra body parts to grow at any given time. This disease mainly affects appendages, such as fingers and toes, however in more serious cases we have seen extra internal organs or facial parts grow. Sufferers of this disease can feel extremely excluded from society, mainly because the American public is generally unaware. In a recent survey, less than 7 percent of the population had any knowledge of the disease. The foundation was created to change those statistics.