Sarah

Posted on 09. Apr, 2010 by admin in News

10 year old, Sarah Jo Southard was diagnosed with Classical Galactosemia seven days after birth. Galactosemia is often confused as a milk allergy or intolerance, when indeed it is a life-long genetic disorder that affects only one in 80,000. Some of the possible side effects are enlarged liver, kidney failure, cataracts and brain damage. Sarah is missing the enzyme that breaks down the carbohydrates lactose and galactose.

Currently there is no cure for Galactosemia. The only thing we can do is try to eliminate these toxins from her diet. Even with a restricted diet, children still experience speech and language problems, fine and gross motor skills development delays, specific learning disabilities and premature ovarian failure.

Classical Galactosemia is considered an “Orphaned Disease”, which means that very little money is put into medical research to find a treatment or cure. This certainly is very disheartening and scary for the parents of children with this disorder which affects them so personally.  Please join us to raise money to find a cure for Galactosemia.

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