East Cobb residents Ashley and Chris Benecchi, are co-chairing the Foundation for Mitochondrial Medicine’s (FMM) ninth annual celebration of Hope Flies: Catch the Cure. The fundraiser will be on Friday, September 21 at The Fairmont, located at 1429 Fairmont Avenue in Atlanta. The event will feature a buffet dinner, open bar, live dance music by Shimmer, a live auction and a silent auction. Tickets to the event are $175 per person and various sponsorship packages are available.
The Benecchis and Ms. Davis are sharing their time and talent in the hopes that strides in mitochondrial research will soon yield more treatment options for the disease. The Foundation for Mitochondrial Medicine recently partnered with MitoAction, the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation, and the Mitochondrial Medicine Society to form a first-of-its-kind Mitochondrial Care Network (MCN). The goals Laura Stanley, Executive Director of the Foundation for Mitochondrial Medicine; Ashley Benecchi, Co-Chair of the 2018 event; and Susan Schreer Davis, Honoree for the 2018 event of this collaborative effort on behalf of patient advocacy groups and the Mitochondrial Medicine Society include formally unifying clinicians who provide medical care to individuals with mitochondrial disease; define, design and implementing best practices in mitochondrial medicine; and optimizing management and care for patients with mitochondrial disease. There are 22 centers (including three affiliate centers) participating in the MCN. A full list of the centers can be found at www.mitonetwork.org.
Hope Flies: Catch the Cure is the Foundation’s annual signature event in Atlanta and seeks to raise over $250,000. All proceeds benefit the foundation and its mission to accelerate treatments and cures for the many forms of mitochondrial diseases. Other events around the country also help raise funds and awareness for the Foundation of Mitochondrial Medicine. For more information on the Foundation, please visit www.mitochondrialdiseases.org.
This article originally appeared in the September issue of the EAST COBBER magazine, on page 52. Click here to view the digital edition.
