Join us in our mission to find a cure for Batten disease and prevent hundreds of similar rare genetic diseases that claim the lives of thousands of children every year.
BBDF welcomes Sofia’s Dream to our family of donor advised funds. By connecting affected families and communities, we are able to pool resources and better position ourselves to increase awareness and accelerate research. Sofia, her family and BBDF share the same dream – to find a cure and eradicate juvenile Batten disease – and together we will. We are so grateful to have Sofia’s family as part of our community.
Sofia was diagnosed with juvenile Batten disease (CLN3) in 2015, and despite her vision loss and poor memory she remains eager to explore the world alongside her family, including her twin brother, Max. Click here to learn more about Sofia.
We would like to express our deepest gratitude for your help in successfully completing the Be Project. Eleven years ago, as parents faced with a daunting diagnosis and the enormous challenge of helping our child, we simply could not have reached this important milestone without you. Your love, support and devotion to our family and mission has been overwhelming, and we are so very grateful for you and feel incredibly blessed.
In 2016, after 8 years of funding research for Batten disease, our research team was ready to take the next steps to advance our discovery of a treatment to slow the progression of Batten disease. As you know, The Be Project was launched to raise $6 million in 24 months in order to validate their findings, create patient registries, and advance a host of other necessary steps to prepare for FDA engagement and clinical trials. And, we did just that. WE DID IT!!! We achieved our goal, and we hope you feel so proud and take ownership in this enormous accomplishment!
Our initial meeting with the FDA was very positive, and they have given us a clear road map to advance from here to clinical trials. We are checking off the FDA’s “to do list” as quickly as possible and are actively pursuing a pharmaceutical partner who can provide the funding and drug development expertise we need to initiate the trial. We are so very close, and anticipate a start date some time very soon.
With much love and heartfelt gratitude from our family to yours,
Join Austin Youth Fitness on February 8th for the 4th Annual Run to the Sun Fun Run benefiting Beyond Batten Disease Foundation. Our goal is to increase awareness of Batten disease and raise $10,000 to support treatment research. We hope you will join us and/or support the event by creating a fundraising page, becoming a sponsor, or encouraging others to attend. Learn more.
Thank you so much for everything y’all have done for me and my family to get to my $1 million goal. On New Year’s Eve, I was a little bit worried that I wouldn’t make it to my goal, but all of sudden, when I checked my website, I was getting hundreds of donations and messages from people that I barely even knew. I was the one that got to tell my sister the news and it was the proudest moment of my life. Not only did you help Christiane but hundreds of other kids who have Batten disease will benefit from your generosity too.
Garland Benson was joined by family and friends as well as members of the community on Tuesday, Dec 18 for a fundraising event at Honest Mary’s. The Austin-based restaurant, which celebrates healthy eating with its menu of grain-based bowls, donated 100% of its evening profits to Garland’s Be A Hero campaign. It was a record breaking Tuesday for Honest Mary’s, and together we raised $385!
Garland Benson shared his story with the world last night on CBS News, calling on each of us to help put an end to Batten disease and not just save the life of his sister, Christiane, but all those living with this traumatic and fatal illness. Click the story links below and discover how this incredible young advocate and loving brother took it upon himself to raise the final $1 million of a $6 million campaign to fund an FDA approved clinical trial.
Bianca Vidal recently wrote to us and was kind enough to let us share her story. Let’s give her and her son a warm welcome.
“My son Manuel is a 17-year-old young man who was recently diagnosed with this terrible disease. Even though at 10 years old he started losing his vision, I never imagine it could be something else. Last year his health started to decline dramatically – it was then that a Doctor found the disease in him. He is declining faster than I thought. He can barely walk and talk now, and he does not recognize who I am most of the time. It is heartbreaking to see him like this. Even though he has good and bad days, his positive attitude is always there. And he always has a big smile for everybody and loves to show off his ‘muscles’.”
The Be Project is Beyond Batten Disease Foundation’s campaign to raise $6 million to fund the treatment and prepare for clinical trials for juvenile Batten disease. Thank you for contributing over $5.7 million. DONATE NOW to help us meet our goal by December 31.
A team led by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine has uncovered an unexpected mechanism that can explain a form of Batten disease called neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis 8. The findings published in the journal Nature Cell Biology provide potential new targets for future therapeutic interventions for this rare and incurable disease.
