Donate to Aid in Cystic Fibrosis Testing in Cental America
Donating just $350 can add 10+ years of life to a child with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) in Latin America!
Our fundraising goal of $20,000 will provide genetic testing to all the CF patients in Latin America to improve and expand their quality of life.
For many years now Dr. John Stevens, a Board Member of FHC, has had the privilege of caring for children and adults with cystic fibrosis (CF) in both Honduras and El Salvador. Recently, he was approached by an international relief organization that provides medication to those in need in over 97 countries, to assist in the distribution of CFTR modulators to CF patients in Honduras and El Salvador.
CFTR modulators correct the CFTR protein at the molecular level and have the potential of dramatically improving the lung function and extending the lives of these CF children, who now live only into their early teens, for another 10, 20 or even 30 years or more! The commitment by our donor is to supply the modulator therapy for life! In the U.S. the cost of this medication is $375,000 per year!
We have been chosen as the CF programs in Honduras and El Salvador as their pilot programs for this project. To qualify for a CFTR modulator the exact genetic defect in the CFTR gene needs to be delineated. To obtain, ship and process the samples needed to carry out this genetic analysis costs approximately $350 per patient. Given a household income of $2500 or less in both countries only a few of the 30 CF patients in Honduras and almost none of the 60 patients in El Salvador have been genotyped.
Friends of Honduran Children, a 501c3 organization, that Dr. John helped start 20 years ago, which recently expanded its mission to provide aid to children and adults throughout all Central America, has started a campaign to fund CF gene analysis for the CF patients in both Honduras and El Salvador. As we currently have two donors that have pledged funds to genotype 20 patients in El Salvador, our fundraising goal of $20,000 will provide CF gene analysis for the rest of the patients in these two countries.
Knowing that every $350 donated has the potential to dramatically improve the health of one of these patients, thereby giving them many more years of life, I invite you to contribute to this effort. You can give your tax deductible contribution online via the Friends of Honduran the form below or if you like, you can write a check to Friends of Honduran Children and mail it to PO Box 55359, 2727 E. 55th Street, Indianapolis, IN 46205.
In both cases, please put CF Genotyping in the memo section.
