Hey, Answer Girl --

The Jerry Lewis Telethon has been on since at least 1970 and has raised millions of dollars. Where is all this money spent and has the money raised made roads in treating and/or preventing this disease?

Melissa in Evansville

According to the telethon's Web site, $30 buys a flu shot; $80 buys one minute of research; $100 pays for a support group session; $150 pays for a therapy consultation; $200 covers the professional fees related to diagnostic work at a Muscular Distrophy clinic; $500 assists a person for one year with wheelchair repair, leg braces or a communication device; $800 sends a child to an MDA summer camp; and $2,000 assists one person with the purchase of a wheelchair, leg braces or communication device.

The site also says that 78.8 percent of every dollar spent goes directly to research, services and education, with the rest going to fundraising and administration.

Possibly most importantly, the telethon's Web site points to several recent advancements made by MDA research in helping those with the disease. Visit www.mda.org for more information on what kind of advancements are being made.

Answer Addition

Mike Lindahl, a fire prevention officer with the Natrona County Fire District, wanted to add a bit to Friday's information on avoiding chimney fires.

Although I made it sound like ash was the main factor in spreading fire from a brick chimney to other combustibles in the area, there's an even bigger issue.

"Although a chimney may appear to be completely contained in brick, and there is no metal chimney flue liner or pipe, the mortar between those bricks over long periods of time (years) may eventually fail when exposed to constant fireplace heat and especially hotter chimney fires," he wrote in an e-mail. "A chimney fire occurs when excess creosote in the chimney flue ignites from normal fire in the fireplace. Creosote builds up from incomplete combustion of fireplace products and we see it as smoke."

If the mortar fails, even a crack, heat can travel to other nearby combustibles, like insulation on the outside of the house.

"This is a long-term event we call pyrolysis, but it can and has led to house fires," Lindahl said.

To prevent this from happening, be sure to have your chimney cleaned or checked each year to be sure your chimney isn't ripe for spreading fire to your house or your neighbors' houses.