On Saturday, April 26th our family will be participating in the 16th Annual Histio Hike Shenandoah and raising critical funds for histiocytic disorders.  This event brings together a community of folks who have been touched by one of these diseases and provides a rare opportunity to compare experiences and share ideas with one another.  It is often the only time that families get to interact in this way.

And YOU can help!

Histiocytic disorders are a group of diseases that occur when there is an over-production of white blood cells known as histiocytes that can lead to organ damage and tumor formations in skin, bones, and internal organs. This group is made up of a wide variety of conditions that can affect both children and adults including Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis which afflicted Josh.  While this disease is very rare, it most commonly strikes young children and can have devastating and sometimes lifelong effects on both child and family.  Because of the rare nature of this family of diseases, cases are often misdiagnosed and families have great difficulty finding physicians to properly treat their warriors.  We were fortunate in that it presented in Josh as a literally "one in a million" adult onset patient whose young adult mind and body were better equipped to handle treatment than the younger histio warriors we have come to know through this organization. We are grateful that we were eventually able to find experienced providers in NYC at Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital and in Boston at the Dana Farber Institute after not finding any in our area. There followed a year of chemo treatments, which were not without complications, but now, 5 years post chemo, there have thankfully been no recurrences. 

While the search for more effective treatments and, ultimately, a cure continues, the Histiocytosis Association is dedicated to supporting and empowering the patients and families who live with these devastating diseases every day. The organization supports research and provides some small, but much appreciated, scholarship opportunities to survivors of college age.

Please help Team Josh reach our fundraising goal by make a gift today! No amount is too small.

Thank you for supporting our family and the Histiocytosis Association.

One-hundred percent of donations go to the Histiocytosis Association in support of its mission and programs.