I am supporting the Courage Classic for kids who have a new chance in life
Throughout my career, I have taken care of children with disorders of their red blood cells. Some of these prevent their bone marrow from making enough healthy blood cells to support growth and development such as marrow failure disorders and thalassemia. Others like sickle cell disease may damage vital organs, lead to severe pain episodes, infections and even strokes. For most of my career, there was very few options for cure outside of a highly toxic hematopoietic stem cell transplant, and this wasn't even an option for some children without a suitable donor. These conversations with families have been very challenging and seeing these children grow into bodies dealing with repercussions of these lifelong disorders is heartbreaking.
However, the past few years have brought new hope. In the new era of genetic editing, science and medicine have merged to develop new cures for these children. Genome editing to 'fix' these terrible mutations and give them back healthy blood stem cells is a life-changing therapy and avoids the need of finding a stem cell donor. Offering this treatment to young children holds the promise for living a longer, healthier life without pain, blood transfusions or crippling organ damage. Physicians at Children's Hospital of Colorado have already begun offering this treatment to children with thalassemia and sickle cell disease with excellent success stories. I ride to support funds to raise awareness of these life-changing therapies, advocate for coverage of these treatment with our legislators and a hope to see these children be able to ride these same roads in the future.
We participate for these kids who show courage every single day and the strength of parents and caregivers to embrace new, life-changing therapies.
Thank you for helping children get the care, hope, and healing they deserve.
