TIFTON —
After a recent online vote, Hannah’s Hope finished second in the Pepsi Refresh Campaign. With the second-place finish, Tifton’s Lottyn Bates will be helped.
Since he was 2 1/2 years old, Bates has suffered from Giant Axonal Neuropathy, a neurological disorder similar to Lou Gehrig’s Disease, that strikes in childhood and progresses rapidly, taking away the ability to walk, talk and breathe. A group of scientists has developed a drug for this disorder.
Hannah’s Hope will be awarded a $250,000 grant to help with his clinical trials. This win has given Bates and his family a surreal feeling of gratitude and appreciation for the public’s support.
“We are so thankful for the school system and the community’s support,” said Magaen Bates, mother of Lottyn Bates.
The race was close as Hannah’s Hope pulled ahead in second place by the end.
“Yesterday, we remained in first place from 8:30 until 11:15 a.m. Then, all of a sudden that night we dropped to third when we checked the Internet. The last 30 minutes, we started waking up everyone and contacting people in the community to vote. We went to Walmart, and called WALB so they could send a message to people on live television to vote,” Bates said. “When we went to bed, we said a prayer and hoped for the best. We did everything we could.”
Bates said that they tried to stay positive throughout the night, but figured they were still in third place. Awakened the next morning at 6:22 a.m. by phone calls, the family learned they had taken second place.
“We checked the campaign on the Internet and saw that we were second. It was all over Facebook,” Bates said.
According to Bates, the text messaging service for people to vote crashed for an hour because so many text messages were coming in at one time.
“We were up against two large organizations,” Bates stated. “I believe the last bunch of text messages pushed us over to second.”
Bates took the opportunity Wednesday morning to go around thanking everyone for their support.
“I went through drive-throughs and to businesses thanking them for letting us put up flyers,” Bates said.
The exciting news reached Lottyn’s school, Charles Spencer, and sent him rolling through the doors with happiness.
“He drove his wheelchair into the school and hollered, ‘We won!’,” Bates said.
The assistant principal, Jim Terrell, is thrilled for the family’s success.
“Lottyn is on cloud nine right now. All the kids in the school are hugging him,” Terrell said. “Everybody in the community gets to share this. Everyone wins. It just gives you chills.”
To contact reporter Latasha Everson, call 382-4321.
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