Lady La of The Fresh Fiends put together this calendar to raise money for an Austism Foundation here in the Valley. Half the value of each calendar sold is being donated towards the cause. Her family has been directly affected by the disorder - her youngest brother, Derrick, lives with the complications of Autism each and every day. From La's site:

Autism is a developmental disorder that appears in the first 3 years of life, and affects the brain’s normal development of social and communication skills. Most parents of autistic children suspect that something is wrong by the time the child is 18 months old. Some children appear normal from ages 1 to 2 then suddenly “regress” and lose language and social skills they had previously gained, like MY brother. To say this condition has changed my life and my family’s life is an understatement. The numbers are increasing EVERY year with children who are diagnosed. All of these children require hundreds of therapy hours, thousands of dollars in vitamins, and thousands of dollars in dietary needs in order to be somewhat recovered, there is no cure.

You can help La support this worthy cause by going here and purchasing one of the calendars today.

You may recognize Jason, or "J-Mac" as he is also known, from the new Gatorade "What is G" commercials narrated by Lil Wayne. Jason was diagnosed as an high functioning austistic at a young age. He did not speak until age 5. However, as he got older, and entered highschool he was able to improve his social skills and make friends. When he expressed an interest in basketball the Greece Athena Highschool Basketball Coach appointed him the team manager.

In the last game of Jason's senior year, he finally got a chance to put all his hard work to the test. With four minutes and a sizeable lead, Coach Jim Johnson put #52, never-tested 17yr old
J-Mac into the game. The rest is history.



Since this footage aired, Jason has met Peyton Manning, and former President Bush. He's gone of the Oprah show, and Magic Johnson has expressed interest in developing a movie about his life. In 2006 he won the ESPY Award for Best Moment in Sports. When asked about what he thinks his story can teach people, and especially those dealing with autism he says this:

"The sky's the limit..give it all the effort you can."