|
I have recently come across a very inspiring foundation, Hope For Vision. They are dedicated to funding the development of treatments and cures for blinding diseases. Their founder, Isaac Lidsky, young father of triplets, lives with retinitis pigmentosa and is committed to finding a cure and/or treatment. As we are all to well aware of, millions of Americans are going blind every day due to retinal degenerative diseases, retinitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration, and many others. It can happen to anyone you know, a co-worker, child, parent, neighbor, or even yourself. Medical costs are staggering for vision loss. The National Eye Institute recently reported in a study that the nation spends over $67 billion annually due to the direct and indirect costs of vision loss, which is more than 100 times the annual budget of the National Eye Institute at the National Institutes of Health. Simply stated, there is not enough money to help those who have already lost their vision, or enough funding for research to prevent future blindness. While science has made many succesful breakthroughs, such as the restoration of vision in human trials employing gene therapies and biotechnology prosthesis, the main obstacle in delivering these treatments to the people who need them is the availability of research funding. Hope For Vision is made up of thousands of dedicated volunteers and vision advocates in Communities of Hope across the country. These volunteers raise funds through special events and other activities. A staggering 90+ percent of funds raised go directly to researchers at leading medical institutions nationwide. To learn more, please visit their website at: http://www.hopeforvision.org/
|
