Our foundation has relocated to the Raleigh/ Durham area and hopes to schedule events in the area. The foundation prompts organ donation, and has never taken any financial donations for any organ donation organization. As an organ donation father of a Daughter that saved 4 people via organ donation, our fondation advocates for people to sign up for organ donation on their Driver's License to save lives just as 12 year old Brittany did when she lost her life to TTP.
The foundation does support the Ohio TTP Research Department. Anyone that lives in the Ohio area can make donation direct to the Ohio TTP Research Department at TTP Support and Education Fund at following:
Ohio State is in the process of revising gift fund terms, including scholarship criteria, to ensure compliance with the law. As this work occurs, language referencing protected class status may still appear in some gift fund descriptions, however, the university is not applying protected class criteria in awarding scholarships or in spending program funds, in compliance with federal and state anti-discrimination law. As gift funds are updated using the statutory methods set forth in Ohio law, the gift fund language visible here will reflect these changes.
TTP Support and Education Fund
Fund number: 318222
Supports exclusive use in conducting Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (TTP) education and patient support programs, currently under the direction of Dr. Spero Cataland (or successor) at the OSUCCC - James.
The foundation is named after 12-year-old Brittany Balser, who, after a 4-week fight with the disease in Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, lost her life to TTP. Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura is a rare blood disease that primarily strikes females ages 20–50, but recently has afflicted younger girls ages 12 to 14. Due to the rarity of the disease, the doctors at Children’s Hospital had very little medical information or experience with which to treat it. The fact that it is a rare blood disease has meant that little has been done to fund research and development of new and better ways to diagnose and treat it. The foundation is dedicated to raising funds to work with doctors and medical centers around the United States who are actively using their medical knowledge, and their resources to find a better cure for this horrible disease.
Our Goals:
- To raise funds that will be distributed to the Ohio State Medical Research Foundation that funds Dr. Spero Cataland's research into new advances that will reduce the mortality risks associated with TTP. Dr. Cataland is spearheading the research into fighting this rare and fatal blood disease.
- The foundation is dedicated to the promotion of the awareness of organ donation by partnering with all organ donation groups to distribute information at all benefit shows.
The foundation is dedicated to raising funds to work with doctors and medical centers around the United States who are actively using their medical knowledge, and their resources to find a better cure for this horrible disease. Our foundation will be working closely with Dr. James George of The Oklahoma Blood Institute. Dr. George is one of the leading experts involved in the study of the disease. He publishes a TTP newsletter and has had his medical research published in various medical journals.
We hope to become a major force in bringing awareness of the disease and its effect on people who become afflicted with the disease. Many medical centers in the United States do not have adequate medical resources on this disease, and it is often very hard for physicians to diagnose.
The fact remains that thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura is a dangerous disorder with substantial acute mortality along with uncertain long-term prognosis. This is the reason that this organization will help the medical profession learn more about the TTP so they can provide better diagnostic precision, less perilous treatment, and improved ability for doctors to advise patients about risks for disabilities and possible relapse.
All those involved in the foundation hope that other families will gain more knowledge of the sickness which afflicts their loved one. With new insight into treatment, these families may not have to go through the experience of losing a beautiful daughter at the young age of 12 — or at any age. Basically, this foundation hopes to save lives.