Dylan Siegel embodies the word: “friend.” His love and loyalty to his best buddy is something to be admired. So when he learned his best friend had an incurable disease, he showed true friendship, and worked to help find a cure.
Dylan, right, pictured with best friend Jonah, left.
When Dylan was barely school-aged, he learned learned that his buddy Jonah is battling a rare disease-- glycogen storage disease, also known as GSD. This is a condition that causes Jonah's blood sugar to drop so low that it could be fatal. Because of this, Jonah’s parents have to keep a rigid schedule of feeding, sometimes through a stomach tube, in order to keep his metabolism stable.
Sadly GSD does not have a cure… YET! Dylan, Jonah’s best friend believes in that “yet” with all of his heart. And he has a plan to back it up!
When Dylan was six years old, he wrote and illustrated a book to help his pal fight this disease. It’s called "Chocolate Bar" – which is lingo that Dylan uses to describe something as "awesome".
Every dollar from the book sales goes directly to funding research to cure GSD. Dylan’s efforts were right in time because money to fund this project was nearing its end. But the $750,000 from Dylan’s book sales helped to revamp the search for a cure.
Researcher Dr. David Weinstein said, “It is now reality. It's not just a dream that these children can be cured."
Debra Siegel, Dylan's mom was pleased with her son when she said, "It's an amazing thing the fact that he didn't just have the idea, he followed through and he actually did it. And he was so persistent trying to get us to publish the book and sell the book. And he was really, really motivated."
We all will agree that Dylan is so “chocolate bar” himself. We are praying that God will continue to bless his efforts and heal all of those fighting GSD!
To support Dylan and Jonah visit the "Chocolate Bar" website to purchase a copy and learn more about this story: http://chocolatebarbook.com/
Matthew 6:33
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
credit: Huffington Post