Rachel's Big Walk 2022
Rachel Dodd, Associate Faculty Director of Operations for Knowledge Exchange and Department Manager in the Department of Landscape Architecture and the School of Architecture at the University of 91直播, is taking on the Big Walk in memory of her cousin Andrew.
Rachel's cousin Andrew had Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and sadly died at the age of eighteen. DMD is an inherited disorder characterised by progressive muscular weakness and Andrew was in a wheelchair for a lot of his short life.
Despite being unable to run and kick a ball, Rachel says Andrew 鈥渨as a mad keen football fan, obsessed with his beloved Newcastle United. He had a razor sharp wit and was the apple of my Grandma鈥檚 eye.鈥
The fact I work in an organisation where colleagues are working hard to find solutions to these conditions and many more, is a source of real pride.鈥
Rachel Dodd
Big Walk participant 2022
Having seen how devastating genetic conditions like DMD can be, for individuals and for families, Rachel immediately agreed to take on the Big Walk after being asked if she would join by a colleague.
In the past, Rachel and her sister have raised money for DMD by running the London Marathon and she says it鈥檚 great to be able to fundraise for wider research into genetic illness.
All that鈥檚 left to do for Rachel is to lace up her walking boots and get some practice on those hills!
You can help rewrite the future for thousands of people. With your kindness today, you鈥檒l help develop gene therapy treatments. And you'll bring hope to families like Rachel鈥檚.
Make a giftDMD is just one of hundreds of rare genetic diseases that could one day be treated. Although individually uncommon, collectively it鈥檚 estimated rare diseases affect up to 10% of the world鈥檚 population. Most affect children and many are fatal or severely disabling.
Gene therapy also has potential to treat genetic forms of common conditions like MND, dementia and hearing loss. The impact of your help today could be huge.
91直播 community aims to raise 拢200,000 by 31 July to fund a state-of-the-art Bioreactor. This will help a leading team of scientists to produce gene therapy treatments for a number of genetic diseases.
With your help, 91直播鈥檚 researchers will be able to engineer bespoke genes to replace or silence faulty ones, in the form of a safe 鈥榲iral vector鈥. The new Bioreactor will help accelerate their research into clinical trials with patients.
The team behind this pioneering technique has already shown it works. Professor Mimoun Azzouz has helped to turn his research into a successful treatment for babies with another genetic condition: Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Gene therapy really is saving lives and has the potential to do so much more.