A local business has offered to donate $1 for every “like” on a Facebook page created to help a Nokesville Elementary first grader, who is losing her eyesight to a rare genetic disease.
The business pledges to donate up to $5000 to cure Leber’s Congenital Amaurosis (LCA), a form of congenital blindnes.
EmesArmy is a Facebook page, supporting Emerie Mitchell Butler, or "Eme," who is legally blind and has rapidly diminishing vision due to a rare genetic form of blindness. Funds donated to EmesArmy go towards a nonprofit called The Curing Retinal Blindness Foundation,which was founded by a group of parents who have children who have lost their vision due to LCA.
“Eme is now six. She has Leber’s Congenital Amaurosis (LCA), a very rare disease that causes her retinal cells to die over time. She is already blind. There is a treatment in development that is curing her disease, but the research needs funding to continue to move it forward to find a cure for Eme,” Emerie's mother, Tabatha Mitchell, wrote on the EmesArmy Facebook page.
Mitchell explained that the cure for retinal blindness is not far off. Researchers are currently working on clinical trials on humans and have even cured a similar form of congenital blindness in other children.
“Our goal is 2013, but we would love to get a check for $5000 for the Curing Retinal Blindness Foundation, which directly funds research for Eme’s cure,” Mitchell said.
She is also hoping that her community will get behind Eme as they have at other local fundraising events, especially since it only takes a simple click on Facebook.
Hope comes to these children in the form of gene replacement therapy, which scientists believe to be the future of curing many diseases, such as blindness caused by gene mutations.
Mitchell, along with other parents who have partnered to form The Curing Retinal Blindness Foundation, holds fundraisers and solicit donations that ultimately help their children.
Tabitha Mitchell asks that readers click “like” on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/EmesArmy now, and encourage their friends to do the same by spreading the word on their own Facebook pages.
Readers can find more information on Eme’s Army, and The Curing Retinal Blindness Foundation at the website, EmesArmy.org.
Watch a video on Eme, created by Hanna Kras and produced in cooperation with Bristow Beat
Bristow Chick-Fil-A's Year End Party, Supports EmesArmy and the CRB1 Foundation
Read related articles:
"Inspired by Nokesville Girl, Community Helps to Cure Congenital Blindness"
"Chick-Fil-A’s Year End Party Helps Support Eme’s Curing Retinal Blindness Fund"
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