Carol Flaherty & Deb Kavcic (NF supporters & friends), Dan Patterson (Leah's Uncle), Anne Patterson (Leah's Aunt) & Tom Mooney (Leah's Uncle)
Participating at various levels in the Buffalo Marathon for Team "Run4Leah/CureNF" in May wasn't enough for the family and friends pictured above! Within a week of the Buffalo Marathon they decided they needed to do more and were ready to train even harder to raise additional funding and awareness for Neurofibromatosis. Carol, Dan, Deb, Anne & Tom set their minds on the NYC Marathon and a collective fundraising committment of $12,500 through the CTF NF Endurance Team.
Leah is one of the youngest patients identified with Neurofibromatosis 2 (NF2). Current NF2 research is aimed at screening thousands of drugs already on the market, developed to treat other ailments, which may also have an impact on preventing new NF tumors from developing and hopefully keeping existing tumors from growing. The average cost of screening just a single existing drug, on the list of thousands, is $30,000.
It is urgent that we continue our efforts to fund this important screening research for Leah and others facing the lifelong challenges of NF2. “Leah is the strongest, sweetest girl you could ever meet,” says Anne Patterson, Leahʼs Aunt, “We thought that if she can endure all the surgeries and hardships that she has had in her very young life, we can certainly run 26.2 miles to raise funds that could help her and others like her.”
All five runners hail from East Aurora, NY and will be running on the NF Endurance Team wearing their trademark bright green bibs. Flaherty is the only runner to have completed a marathon, thus making this the first full marathon for the rest of the team. In an effort to continue their funraising efforts, the group is hosting a
Guest Bartending event at Riley Street Station (27 Riley Street, East Aurora, NY) on Tuesday September 27th from 6-9pm.
All tips will benefit NF Research. All are invited to attend!
For more information on how to get involved or donate, please visit
http://tinyurl.com/NFEndurance or call 716.597.7812.
For more information about Leah Manth and Cure NF: http://leahmanth.com or contact John Manth at 716-743-0917
