Funds raised to support effort to improve the lives of people affected by Huntington’s disease, their families
LAS VEGAS – The Huntington’s Disease Society of America’s Las Vegas affiliate will host its 3rd annual Team Hope Walk for Huntington’s Disease Saturday, May 18, at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, 888 West Bonneville Ave.
Registration begins at 7 a.m., and the walk starts at 8 a.m.
The HDSA Las Vegas affiliate will honor Ryan Walsh, MD, Ph.D., and the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health for their support and advocacy on behalf of Huntington’s Disease patients in the Las Vegas valley.
Participants will enjoy a one-mile walk around the Symphony Park area (route to be determined), tours of the Cleveland Clinic, entertainment, food, prizes, an auction and raffle. In 2012, the walk raised $38,635, surpassing its original goal of raising $22,000.
May is Huntington’s disease Awareness Month. Through the 3rd annual HDSA Las Vegas Team Hope Walk, the affiliate is reaching out beyond the HD community to educate the general public about Huntington’s disease and HDSA.
Families, friends, corporate teams, runners, walkers, researchers and health advocates are all encouraged to participate. Individuals who raise $25 will receive a T-shirt. There are many ways to support the cause: sign up as a participant, sponsor a participant or join in as a volunteer or spectator. To register online, visit the website by clicking here (www.hdsa.org/lv) or contact Natalie Carpenter at or 949.542.3907 ncarpenter@hdsa.org for additional information.
The HDSA Las Vegas Affiliate thanks Lundbeck and Hill Contracting Group, Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health and Broken Spoke Bikes for providing support to the 3rd annual HDSA Las Vegas Team Hope Walk. Sponsorship opportunities are still available for this year’s event.
The Huntington’s Disease Society of America is the largest 501(c)(3) nonprofit, volunteer organization dedicated to improving the lives of everyone affected by Huntington’s Disease.
Huntington’s disease is a devastating, hereditary, degenerative brain disorder that results in a loss of cognitive, behavioral and physical control, and for which, presently, there is no cure and only one FDA-approved treatment for a symptom of the disease. Huntington’s disease slowly diminishes the affected individual’s ability to walk, think, talk and reason. Symptoms usually appear in an individual between 30 and 50 years of age and progress over a 10- to 25-year period. Eventually, a person with this disease becomes totally dependent upon others for his or her care. More than 30,000 people in the United States are currently diagnosed with Huntington’s disease. Each of their siblings and children has a 50 percent risk of developing the disease. Although medications can relieve some symptoms in certain individuals, research has yet to find a means of conquering or even slowing its deadly progression.
HDSA founded the HDSA Coalition for the Cure, a collaboration of 16 international researchers, as part of the HD Drug Research Pipeline, and supports research which develops potential therapies to treat and eventually cure HD; and HDSA also supports 21 Centers of Excellence at major medical facilities throughout the U.S., where people with HD and their families receive comprehensive medical, psychological and social services, in addition to physical and occupational therapy and genetic testing and counseling. The Society is comprised of 46 local chapters and affiliates across the country with its headquarters in New York City. Additionally, HDSA hosts more than 170 support groups for people with HD, their families, caregivers and people at-risk, and is the premiere resource on Huntington’s disease for medical professionals and the general public.
To learn more about Huntington’s disease and to get involved in HDSA, please visit www.hdsa.org or call 1-800-345-HDSA.