Like 5 year old Kaylee from Monclova and 20-month-old Zack from Kentucky, these are 2 of the roughly 12 American children with the rare disease characterized by accelerated aging. The kids acted like long lost cousins playing and laughing together. "It's such a small community. I feel like these families we met are now our family," says Zack's mother Tina Pickard.
Today, the community ran Kaylee's Course for Progeria Research not just to help Kaylee's family, but also Zack's. "They are probably very anxious," says Kaylee's mother Marla Halko. Anxious because 5 year old Kaylee's experimental drug trial could be the treatment and possibly the cure the progeria community needs.
First Kaylee needs to get through the only known treatment, and that takes money and determination; like the kind shown by those running or walking Kaylee's Course in pouring rain. With treatment underway, there is no turning back Despite the rain, the 3rd Annual Kaylee's Course raised around $40,000 today.
