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Meet Joseph

When young parents Sarah and Carmelo learned their child had a genetic condition, they feared for his future – but when they discovered what medical research is doing about it, they gained new hope.

“When you get a phone call from the paediatrician saying, ‘your son is testing very high for cystic fibrosis’ the first thing you do is Google it. And when you type in ‘what is cystic fibrosis’, and it says you have a life expectancy of around 25 years… The first thing I did was burst into tears and threw up," Carmelo, Joseph's dad, said.

Sarah and Carmelo were first time parents when Joseph was born. He didn’t feed or sleep well but his parents didn’t worry too much until they got a call about his newborn screening results.

But medication exists to treat patients with cystic fibrosis, and luckily for Joseph, he has only ever been hospitalised once. He does require daily treatment and must avoid high risk environments.

“We are blessed that Joseph is actually on track now,’’ Sarah said. “We always hoped that one day when he's older, he might not have to have CF, that maybe there would be a cure. So, the future is always bright.’’

Hope has grown even more as the family heard about CMRI’s research into gene therapy for CF. This could mean that one day a simple injection could provide a cure.

“And when we went to the Jeans for Genes research facility and learned about gene therapy – it’s amazing to think that not only could it help Joseph and kids with cystic fibrosis, but a lot of other genetic diseases.

“When you donate to Jeans for Genes you are not just curing one disease – you could be curing many.’’

Your double donation will help find cures for children like Joseph, for the 1 in 20 kids who face a birth defect or genetic disease. Thank you.

Donate today to double your impact to help families just like Joseph's.