ASU FRESHMAN CHOSEN FOR THIRD TERM AS MDA YOUTH EMISSARY

TUCSON, Ariz., January 14, 1999 -- For the third year, 18-year-old Amanda Van Benthuysen of San Diego will serve as National Youth Chairperson for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Mandy is a freshman at Arizona State University in Tempe where she is studying broadcasting at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Telecommunication. She is a graduate of Serra High School in San Diego.

In announcing her selection for a third year in the volunteer position, MDA National Chairman Jerry Lewis said, "Mandy has a terrific spirit and that's a motivating force for others. She's a marvelous representative." He attributes Mandy's successes in life to her high energy and enthusiasm.

As MDA's youth chairperson, Mandy will attend national conventions of youth groups that support the Association, speak about volunteering and fund-raising and meet with families of children with neuromuscular diseases.

Her travel schedule includes the national career conference of DECA, An Association of Marketing Students, in April in Orlando, Fla., the Kappa Alpha Order convention in New Orleans in August and the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon in September in Los Angeles. On the national Telethon broadcast in 1998, she introduced representatives of these and other youth organizations.

Mandy says that speaking to young men and women gives her a chance to meet high school and college students who are deeply involved with MDA's mission.

"It's been really exciting to see how dedicated these individuals are to supporting MDA," said Mandy, who has been volunteering for MDA since she was 8. "I encourage them to continue volunteering."

The daughter of Thom and Ginny Van Benthuysen of San Diego, Mandy has limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, a progressive neuromuscular condition that affects the muscles of the shoulders, lower trunk and upper legs. She uses a wheelchair part time and also is affected by juvenile arthritis.

In her first two years of service, Mandy spoke at a number of MDA sponsor events and attended an MDA summer camp. In 1996, she and her family were featured speakers at an orientation for local emcees of the Telethon. In 1997, Mandy was pictured with Lewis on the cover of Parade magazine's Labor Day weekend issue, and she's scheduled to appear again on the cover, this time with General Colin Powell, in Parade's April 11 issue.

While at ASU, Mandy plans to work part time at a television station and become active in several student clubs.

MDA is a voluntary health agency working to defeat 40 neuromuscular diseases through programs of worldwide research, comprehensive services, and far-reaching professional and public health education. MDA-funded researchers are now evaluating patients for the first gene therapy clinical trials, with a Phase I emphasis on limb girdle muscular dystrophy, the disease that affects Mandy.

Recognized by the American Medical Association with a Lifetime Achievement Award "for significant and lasting contributions to the health and welfare of humanity," MDA maintains 230 hospital-affiliated clinics that offer families the best in care for progressive neuromuscular diseases. The Association's programs are funded almost entirely by individual contributors.

For more information, see the MDA Web site at www.mda.org, or call (800) 572-1717.

Editor's Note: Read Mandy's bio or her Quest Magazine profile.