Football and science seem to be disparate fields of play at first glance, but the nonprofit Uplifting Athletes is finding common ground by leveraging the popularity of college gridiron games to fund research for rare diseases. Its nearly two dozen chapters — representing college football teams across the nation…
Myasthenia Gravis (MG) Awareness Month may be wrapping up, but advocate Glenda Thomas is just getting started. Diagnosed at age 60 with the rare disease form known as MuSK MG, which attacks the muscle-specific tyrosine kinase receptors and can prevent muscles from contracting, Thomas now spends her waking hours…
As anyone affected by a rare disease knows, treating the illness while trying to go about everyday life is an expensive undertaking. But exactly how expensive — in terms of direct and indirect costs across rare disease populations — might still come as a surprise: almost…
Many diseases have their own awareness color — breast cancer is pink, muscular dystrophy is green, and AIDS is red, for example — but what’s the significance of pink, green, blue, and purple lights side-by-side? These are the colors most often used to represent Rare Disease Day. This…
Diagnosed with sickle cell disease as a 6-month-old, Tristan Lee has faced a lot of challenges over his 37 years of life. But from a young age, he also learned how to turn those trials into triumphs. At age 9, a stroke due to his disease left him paralyzed…
Leaders in the U.S. rare disease community came together recently for a webinar to present helpful information on how to start a nonprofit and patient registry. They shared about how their respective organizations came to be, as well as the benefits of creating patient registries and how they can help…
When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the postponement of a rare disease film festival originally slated for May, its organizers set out to find a new way to bring the films to an audience. Co-founders Daniel DeFabio and Bo Bigelow, who are both fathers of children with…
As part of Myasthenia Gravis (MG) Awareness Month, Argenx — the biotech company developing efgartigimod to possibly treat this disease — has opened a patient-focused platform called MG United. The company unveiled the online platform on June 1 during its virtual MG Illuminate event, which included segments on doctor-patient…
The Living Rare, Living Stronger Patient and Family Forum, originally set for May 14–16 in Cleveland, Ohio, has been postponed until July 18–20 because of the coronavirus disease COVID-19 pandemic. The event’s sponsor, the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD),…
Starting a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit isn’t easy, but the National Organization for Rare Disorders gave a few tips for those  looking to begin the complex process in its Feb. 20 webinar. William Whitman…
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