The Calafiore family of California, whose gorgeous daughter, Hayden, has SMA Type 1, surpassed their personal goal of raising $5,000 through Unite For The Cure towards our collective goal of raising at least $100,000 for Dr. Hans Keirstead’s promising SMA stem cell program at UC-Irvine.
Way to go Calafiore family!!! Thank you so much for being part of UFTC.
The SMA community continues to enthusiastically band together to make sure funding is not an obstacle for a promising stem cell research program led by Dr. Hans Keirstead at UC Irvine that has real potential to cure SMA, END SMA. Meet Chris, Jennifer, and Hayden Calafiore of California who have decided to Unite For The Cure!
Why are the Calafiores uniting for the cure?
Hayden Christine Calafiore was born on June 4, 2008. The Calafiores had never felt more love and happiness in their lives until that day. Hayden was the perferct baby girl and passed all of her newborn screening tests. On October 17, 2008, at 4 months old, she was diagnosed with SMA Type 1. Since the Calafiores had never heard of SMA before, they were sure it was a very rare disease. After doing some reseach they learned that it is in fact a “common rare disease”. Determined not to let this happen to their daughter, the Calafiores reached out to the best doctors in the SMA field. They were told that there were drugs and compounds that may possibly slow the progression of the disease, but there was no cure. The Calafiores have always believed that a cure exists, but it just needed to be found. Through more research they learned of Dr. Keirsteads progress with stem cells at UC Irvine and they contacted California Stem Cell immediately. The Calafiores were told that Dr. Keirsteads program was awaiting approval by the FDA. One part of them was overjoyed to know there is something to stop this disease and the other part of them was frustrated and sad to know it was there but was not being used yet. So this is why the Calafiores have decided to Unite for the Cure. They can’t just sit here and wait; SMA is not waiting for them. They truly feel Dr. Keirstead and his team are on the path to curing SMA and all efforts should be made to move this research forward as quickly as possible.
