Mike, Melissa, Ayva, and Lexx Howell of Alberta, Canada have jumped on board to Unite For The Cure to help raise $100,000 for Dr. Hans Keirstead’s SMA stem cell program at UC Irvine.
Why are the Howells uniting for the cure?
Mike and Melissa have two beautiful children, Ayva, 4 years old and Lexx, 20 months old. Lexx was born January 25, 2008 perfectly healthy and happy. In April 2008, he was diagnosed with SMA Type 1. In May, the family took a road trip down to Salt Lake City, Utah to see Dr. Kathryn Swoboda, since Lexx’s doctors in Canada had little knowledge of SMA. In August, Lexx woke up with a cold, and by that night, he was in PICU for eight weeks. He was a fighter through that hospital stay as well as the next four times he has been hospitalized and Lexx continues to be a fighter every day. The Howells join Unite For The Cure to fight with Lexx in the hopes to end this awful disease.
We are so excited to have the Howells on board. There is no doubt that the SMA community is coming together to help make sure this promising SMA stem cell program gets to and through human clinical trials as quickly as possible!
