Crush Rett Syndrome

Over 350,000 people worldwide suffer from Rett Syndrome. This severely physically debilitating neurological disorder primarily affects girls. A normal appearing infant starts losing her skills usually between 6 and 18 months old including walking or crawling, talking and babbling, and sometimes even the ability to sit independently or chew and swallow. The hallmark symptom is the loss of purposeful hand use because of almost non-stop hand-wringing, hand-mouthing, or clapping. Many of the girls will also suffer from seizures, severe scoliosis, abnormal breathing, abnormal heart rhythms, irregular sleep patterns, and GI issues. Although initially thought to cause severe intellectual delays, recent technology that has allowed some girls to communicate with a computer has revealed that their intellectual abilities may be more intact than previously thought.

The Rett Syndrome researchers have made amazing progress in understanding the cause of Rett Syndrome's symptoms since the discovery of the gene responsible for it. The most amazing discovery that has given hope to so many is that the disorder is not degenerative. When scientists "fixed" the defective gene in mice, the symptoms reversed including in very old mice! This means that the 350,000 people suffering from the terrible symptoms of Rett Syndrome may have a second chance at living a normal life!

Rett Syndrome research is almost completed privately funded. Unlike more well known diseases such as cancer or AIDS that get a lot of public funding, getting Rett Syndrome cured relies on people like you and me. Please donate and join Crush Rett Syndrome in helping to make Rett Syndrome the first REVERSIBLE neurological disorder to be cured. Let's give the 350,000 people a chance at a better life while also preventing babies born every 90 minutes with Rett Syndrome from ever needing to suffer from it.