Florida State Coach & Wife announce record donation
January 2nd, 2013; Posted by: WeBleed staff
Florida State University football coach, Jimbo Fisher, and his wife, Candi, announced that the foundation that they set up in 2011 – the Kidz1stFund – had raised $800,000 for Fanconi Anemia (FA) research.
FA is the result of a defect in a cluster of proteins responsible for DNA repair. As a result, Fanconi Anemia patients often develop cancer and 90% experience bone marrow failure. 60-70% of patients also have congenital defects – short build, abnormalities of the skin, arms, head, eyes, kidneys, and/or ears, and developmental disabilities.
The Fisher’s son, Ethan, was diagnosed in 2011 with the rare blood disorder. In 2011, the coach and his wife set up the Kidz1stFund which has raised $1.8 million dollars which it sends to the University of Minnesota Fanconi Anemia Comprehensive Care Clinic.
“It’s been amazing the outpouring of support which we’ve had,” Jimbo Fisher said at a press conference earlier this week. “To raise $500,000 the past two years — that’s been our goal each year. Well, this year we exceeded it. … So we’ve been able to raise $1.8 million over three years.”
Now 8 years old, Ethan will one day require a cell transplantation to replace his abnormal stem cells. The average life span for FA patients is between 29 and 33 years of age.
“Time is not on our side,” Candi said. “While Ethan is healthy, while we don’t need to go through treatment, we want to do as much as we can as fast as we can.”
Jimbo & Candi share their story and talk about Kidz1stFund.
The #1 Florida State Seminoles football team takes on #2 Auburn in the Rose Bowl this coming Monday, January 6th in Pasadena, California. You can tune in to ESPN to watch the game. Kickoff is at 6:30p Eastern Time.
Further Reading: Coverage of Kidz1stFund Donation (from Tallahassee.com); Fanconia Anemia (from Kidz1stFund); Other webleed.org stories on FA; Florida State Football Team (from seminoles.com)
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Photo credit: Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports; Video credit: Kidz1stFund
