"Betting on Brielle and Brooke" -Team Lowe's Track Record Magazine

August is SMA Awareness month! Brielle and Brooke are featured in an article with Chad Knaus inside the Lowes quarterly racing news magazine called, “Track Record.” This magazine goes out to 750,000 homes! That’s right, SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND homes!!! What great awareness! Thank you Lowes & Chad for helping us raise awareness about Spinal Muscular Atrophy!!

Betting on Brielle and Brooke

Author:Chad Knaus
Date:08.09.10

Usually, the only gambling I do is on two tires versus four during a pit stop, or maybe on fuel mileage.  But I had an opportunity recently to bet on something far more important – at a casino night to benefit Brielle and Brooke Kennedy.
 
Brielle and her sister Brooke are both affected with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), which is the leading genetic killer of children.  Their aunt works at Hendrick Motorsports, and that’s how I met them.

The girls are adorable.  They’re very cute and very sweet. They’re extremely resilient and tough little ladies.  They definitely touched a soft spot in my heart and I wanted to help them any way I could and get some awareness out there.   We just held a poker tournament for them and a number of drivers and crew chiefs came out. We were able to raise a lot of money for these little girls and for SMA.   It’s really nice to be able to help this family.  It’s such a rare disease, and to have two little girls in that family affected by it, is just terrible.  I like the fact that I can help to a degree, and wish I could help more.

One exciting thing is that we’re looking for ways to help them with a wheelchair accessible conversion for their van so they can travel easier.  The poker night went a long way in raising money for their van, so we plan to have it for them soon.
 
They usually come to the Michigan race, so hopefully I’ll see them in the fall.  They all came to the race last year, and it was great to see how much they enjoyed it.  I had a chance to give Brielle a tour of the transporter, introduce her to some drivers and even put her in the racecar.  I knew our day was complete when she wished me luck on the race.
 
If other people would like to make a donation for these great little girls, they can contribute to:

Friends of Brooke & Brielle 
P.O. Box 740
Mattawan, MI  49071 
 
It’s an honor for me to be able to help this family and to see the progress of Brielle and Brooke.  It’s a bet that’s paying off in the most important ways.

Online version of the article:
http://www.lowesracing.com/Shop-Talk/Chads-Pit-Box/Chads-Pit-Box-August-2010.aspx

Brielle and Chad Knaus