05/12/04 - 7TH ANNUAL HUNTER'S HOPE SCIENTIFIC AND MEDICAL SYMPOSIUM TO BRING WORLD-RENOWNED DOCTORS AND RESEARCHERS TO WNY AREA

Ellicottville, NY- World-renowned doctors, scientists and researchers will be attending the 7th Annual Hunter’s Hope Scientific and Medical Symposium at the Holiday Valley Conference Center in Ellicottville, NY May 19th - 23rd. Included in this long list of distinguished researchers are: Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg, Director of the Pediatric Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Program at Duke University in Durham, NC; Dr. Julianna Lamoury from the Centre for Immunology at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, Australia; and Augusto Odone, founder of the Myelin Project in Washington, DC and whose life experiences with his son were portrayed in the movie Lorenzo’s Oil.

The event, led by Jill and Jim Kelly, will also bring more than 30 families of children afflicted with Krabbe Disease and other leukodystrophies to share their stories and to learn the latest developments in scientific research, discuss diagnosis, genetic counseling, transplanting, therapies, nutrition, and family support. Researchers then have the opportunity to talk with these coping families and spend time with the leukodystrophy children themselves, adding a valuable personal dimension to the work they do in their labs.

Fifteen prominent doctors, scientists, and researchers will come to share information and ideas about Krabbe Disease and other leukodystrophies and by their own accounts, the Symposium meetings have helped to foster progress through scientific collaboration in a field that has traditionally been more competitive than collaborative. Researchers funded by the Hunter's Hope Foundation will also present progress updates to attendees in both lay and scientific presentations over the course of the Symposium. For the complete Symposium schedule with a list of doctors and their presentations, please visit www.huntershope.org

“We have been very blessed to be able to fund these amazing researchers to help us find a cure for Krabbe,” said Jim Kelly, President of Hunter’s Hope, “it is because of this community’s generous support that we can provide hope to children with leukodystrophies.”

The Hunter’s Hope Foundation was established in 1997 by Pro Football Hall of Fame member and former Buffalo Bills Quarterback, Jim Kelly, and his wife, Jill, after their infant son, Hunter was diagnosed with Krabbe Leukodystrophy, an inherited, fatal, nervous system disease. The Foundation is the Kelly’s life long commitment to increase public awareness of leukodystrophies as well as to increase the likelihood of early detection and treatment. Their ultimate goal is to raise money to fund research efforts to identify new treatments, therapies, and a cure for Krabbe and other leukodystrophies. To date the Foundation has awarded over $3.8 million to leukodystrophy and related neurological disease research.

Back to Press Releases Index