Help Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia

Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia

Monkton, Maryland

Cause Description:
The HHT Foundation International (www.HHT.org) supports research, treatment Centers of Excellence, and raises awareness of a rare genetic disorder, Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT). HHT is a genetic disorder of the blood vessels which affects about one in 10,000 people. Each child of a parent with an HHT gene has a 50% chance of inheriting it. It affects males and females from all racial and ethnic groups. The disorder is also sometimes referred to as Osler-Weber-Rendu (OWR) after several doctors who studied HHT. A person with HHT has a tendency to form some blood vessels that lack capillaries, causing fragile sites called artery-vein malformations (AVMs). AVMs can rupture in any organ such as the brain, lungs, and lining of the stomach and nose. Life-threatening tragedies can be prevented, often with newly-researched surgical techniques, only if the disorder is diagnosed correctly. Great advancements have been made in the last two decades in the management of HHT. Informing health care professionals and families with HHT about current treatments, especially at treatment Centers of Excellence, is part of the HHT Foundation's mission. Donations to support research have led scientists to discover genes responsible for HHT. Currently, scientists are trying to understand better exactly how it is that the abnormal gene can interfere with normal blood vessel formation. Donations for research may eventually lead to the ability to truly "cure" the genetic disorder by either fixing the abnormal gene or by replacing the substance in the body that the abnormal gene is not producing. Your donation benefits this cause!

Type: Human/ Social Services
Listed on iGive since: May 2002
iGive members supporting: 40

Website: www.hht.org

Raised through iGive: $194.74 across 6 checks, December 2003 to November 2009.

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