A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

100% of your donation has directly gone into kicking off FOUR active research projects since 2014! This is an amazing milestone as before that, we had none. These projects are focused on understanding the root cause of OMS and Neuroblastoma. OMS is an extremely rare and debilitating autoimmune disease that is linked to a rare childhood cancer called Neuroblastoma. That’s right, first you get cancer, then you get OMS. This rare cancer/autoimmune diagnosis hit my daughter Keira five years ago and while her cancer is in remission, we still live with OMS like many families. But now you've given us all hope... Pictured below is a research team in Oxford where one of our research projects is under way and they are utilizing sophisticated equipment to try and understand how the cancer triggers OMS at the molecular level. Science at this caliber was unimaginable for OMS just a couple of years ago. Thanks to you, we've taken the first step in our long journey ahead. Reasons for hope By taking this first step and funding research, we've generated interest among researchers and we are now getting more research applications than we have funding for. We fund seed grants at $50K each. You might ask how such modest dollars stack up to the millions of dollars you hear drug companies spending on research. Well, here are some reasons why even seed amounts of funding could have significant impact at this stage: Low hanging fruit - When a disease is so understudied like OMS, any research will likely yield insights that can better diagnose and treat OMS with existing drugs today.   Rare means unique - Unlike other autoimmune diseases that have been researched for decades but remain a mystery, OMS is triggered by a cancerous tumor. Rather than having to search the entire body for a cause, we have a focused starting point. We’re starting with a specific bail of hay rather than searching the whole hay stack.   Interest - We now have scientists excited about researching OMS. They see the potential to better understand OMS well as the link to better understanding how the immune system reacts to cancer in general You’ve supported us in the past, we’ve accomplished a lot, but there is more we can do. In three days I will once again mount my bike and ride 550 miles from LA to SF to raise money and awareness for pediatric cancer and OMS research. I would be forever grateful for support again in reaching our goals. Thanks for your consideration. Donate to PAA 2015 With gratitude Naveen, Crystal, Keira, and Akemi