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The Jack Pribaz Foundation Board and guests. Front row, L-R: Eric Pierce, Mike Pribaz, Ed Cooper, Brian Baird; women in the middle, L-R: Liz Pribaz, Laura Javech, Gina Pribaz Vozenilek, Sara James Butcher, Scotty Sims; Last row, L-R, John Vozenilek, Jim Johnson[/caption]You’ve probably heard stories of the crazy feats of strength that a panicked parent can perform when a child is in grave physical danger. Juiced up by adrenaline fear, and powered by love, a mother or father can do amazing things for their child.
This weekend we got a glimpse of the powerful synergy that happens when a group of these super parents joins forces. Mike and Liz Pribaz and the Board and friends of Jack’s Army welcomed Jim Johnson and Scotty Sims, parents of Harper in Colorado, Sara James, mother of Jacqueline in Melbourne, Australia, and researcher Dr. Edward Cooper from Houston. No one wore capes or tossed any automobiles, but one person remarked that it seemed like a gathering of the Justice League. You get the feeling that now that these parents have found each other, there’s not much they cannot do together.
Search, click, CONNECT
It was a fortuitous late-night Google search that located Dr. Cooper in January of 2012. Then Mike sent an email into the void, and Dr. Cooper responded within hours. That crucial connection was a game changer for the emerging KCNQ2 community. Soon Dr. Cooper and Jack’s neurologist in Chicago, Dr. John Millichap, would begin a fruitful research partnership that continues to grow.
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We learned that last year around this time there were still only a handful of cases known. Dr. Ed Cooper reports that now there are 90 published cases of KCNQ2 encephalopathy.[/caption]Jim Johnson joked that in his search for information about KCNQ2 he reached the end of the Internet. Along the way, he found Jack’s Army. Saturday night he thanked all the people who generously support this grassroots organization, describing how it felt to discover that he and his wife were not alone with their daughter’s diagnosis:
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Jim Johnson, Scotty Sims, Sara James Butcher, Liz Pribaz[/caption]“…that there was actually someone out there that we could talk to--I can’t tell you how much … that meant to us, to actually read Jack’s story and read that there was a doctor involved that actually was looking for answers, Dr. Cooper. How fortunate and just how connected, even through email and on phone calls with Mike and Liz, we felt…”
Meanwhile in Australia…
Another family across the world was searching for answers too. Sara and her husband waited eight long years before their daughter Jacqui’s diagnosis was made. How did we find her story?
That’s thanks to Scotty. Scotty uses the Internet to search for patients who have a KCNQ2 mutation whose parents may have started blogs or websites—messages in the digital bottle. She is keeping a database of patients whose parents have contacted the Foundation or her directly at her Facebook page, Harper’s Warriors KCNQ2. The more patients we can find, the more families we can help, the more cases there are to study, the more quickly we can hope for treatments...
While making her Internet surfing rounds, Scotty tried a search on Google.com.au and turned up a very interesting video. A Place For Us is a 30-min documentary that aired on Australian television and marks the first major media story to put a face, a beautiful face, on KCNQ2 epilepsy. We hope it won’t be the last.
Going the Distance
Sara traveled more than 9,000 miles from Melbourne to Wheaton, Illinois, to share with us about her journey with her daughter Jacqui and to meet Dr. Cooper. It was kind of surreal, and certainly inspirational, to trace the various paths that brought all of us together. “The world is very big,” Sara acknowledged Saturday night, “but the world is very, very small.”
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Sara James Butcher shares her daughter Jacqui's story[/caption]As a matter of fact, at the beginning of his career, Dr. Cooper was inspired by pioneering work on genetic epilepsies done by Jacqui’s doctor in Australia, Dr. Ingrid Scheffer. She told Sara that with this trip she was heading right to the forefront of KCNQ2 research, and Sara’s been charged with bringing back a full report.
To do that, we will all travel to Houston, Texas, to visit Dr. Cooper’s laboratory and his team at Baylor. We are all eager to learn everything we can. Stay tuned for our Texas report!
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Jack and family just want to say a great big THANK YOU for coming out to the Village Tavern and Grill on Wednesday, March 5, to celebrate Jack’s 5th birthday. A good time was had by all, and we raised a cool $315!
Thank you for your continued support!
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THANK YOU ALL FOR COMING OUT![/caption]
It's time to celebrate. Jack Wyatt Pribaz turns 5 on the 5th, a "golden birthday" if there ever was one! Join the celebration on Wednesday, March 5 at the Village Tavern and Grill , 219 S. Schmale in Carol Stream. The good folks at the Village Tavern will donate 20% of your bill to the Jack Pribaz Foundation. Be sure to bring this flyer with you:
Eat_out_hand_out_flyer
We realize it's Ash Wednesday, but don't worry. You can enjoy a fish fry basket or sandwich or even fish tacos. Kiddie menu available too.
Please come out and help celebrate and support a great cause!
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As Mike and Liz stood in the vortex of a virtual tornado at the end of their evening, they reflected on their top 5 whirlwind gala moments:
1. Kurt Florian gave a nod to Jack’s Army in his address. The President of the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Chicago stood before a packed house and spoke of all of the different ways that the war on epilepsy is being waged, and he specifically mentioned the "grassroots" success of Jack's Army! What great exposure for our little foundation in a room full of epilepsy advocates, lawmakers, clinicians, and researchers.
2. We talked with the evening’s honoree, Susan Axelrod, founder of CURE, congratulating her on receiving the Distinguished Richard N. Rovner Hero Award. We chatted with her about Jack and KCNQ2 and thanked her for inspiring us as parents and as a foundation. It was a wonderful opportunity to personally express our gratitude for the CURE's $300,000 grant to Dr. Cooper.
3. US Senator Dick Durbin announced a $200 million appropriation that he helped set aside for the Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program. Some of these funds will go toward the study of epilepsy and traumatic brain injury in soldiers coming back from war.
4. Illinois Senator Dan Kotowski, whose dad we had met and talked to in the coat check line, talked about his own connection to epilepsy (through the Danny Did Foundation) and the exciting future of medicine in this fight, including medical marijuana.
5. We were moved by the story of the winners of the Hero Award for Inspirational Commitment. Jack and Manjula Pfingston lost their son Zach to sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) in 2009. CURE is leading the way in preventing and finding the cause of SUDEP. All proceeds from their annual golf outing go to Camp Blackhawk for kids with epilepsy. Zach loved that camp.
Heroes Night reminded Mike and Liz what a vibrant, passionate group the epilepsy community is. The gala gave them a chance to recharge their batteries, to network, and to learn. Jack’s Army thanks the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Chicago for putting on a great event.
To top off the night, Mike and Liz met a new friend. They were seated with Gregg Rosenthal from Mt. Prospect, a man who suffered from seizures as an adult and was eventually forced to get a portion of his frontal lobe removed. Gregg was an advocate in convincing Governor Pat Quinn to declare November epilepsy month. A dedicated golfer, Gregg pledged to attend the Jack’s Army Third Annual golf outing in July.