Sophia and the whole Rett Raiders team thank you for visiting our fundraising page!
We are an incredibly blessed family to have such a wonderful little girl to call our own. She is beautiful, loving and has a sneaky sense of humor that you'd have to see to believe! She also has a disorder called Rett syndrome that affects every aspect of her everyday life. Rett syndrome is a terrible disease that needs to be "Raided". Without a cure, it is likely that Sophia will never speak, run, play with friends, read, write, or even be able to meet such daily needs as feeding herself and toileting independently.
Rett syndrome, is comparable to having a combination of autism, parkinsons, seizures and cerebral palsy. 1 in approximately 10,000 girls are born with Rett, however, many are misdiagnosed as general mental retardation or cerebral palsy. Girls with Rett are normal developmentally until about 6-18 months of age, at which point they begin to regress and lose skills previously acquired. Without a cure, our girls will never live independently, never provide for themselves and never even be able to utter the words that we as parents take for granted - "I love you, Momma, Daddy"
Researchers are continually making new discoveries about Rett syndrome and we believe that a cure is very possible within Sophia's lifetime. How wonderful that would be! Your support of our cause directly benefits not only Sophia but all other girls (and rarely, boys) with Rett syndrome.
The International Rett Syndrome Foundation (IRSF) is an amazing organization, not only because it leads in research for a cure, but because of the fantastic members. They are such a great support system, especially when you first hear the words, "Your daughter has Rett syndrome." That is a scary, dark moment in a family's life, but I'll never forget how caring and wonderful the representatives for our program were to us. It really put some of the light and HOPE back into our lives.
Because of that hope, I am asking you for your donation to our cause. Every little bit helps, but I encourage you to give as much as you can. Sophia and all of our other "silent angels" thank you. Please don't forget to forward this to anyone who you think might want to donate too!