If you think that Alzheimer’s is a disease that only attacks older people, then think again. It seems that you can get it at any age, even as a child.

I first learned about this last month when I read about Leah Garfitt, a six year old child who has Niemann-Pick Type C disease (NPC), a genetic disease that causes large amounts of fatty substances to build up in the liver, spleen, bone marrow and brain resulting in symptoms similar to Alzheimer’s.

Niemann-Pick Type C is very uncommon disease with only 500 known cases worldwide. So it’s not surprising that most of us have not heard.

But for those who have to deal with it and live through it, Neimann-Pick Type C is a real heartbreaker. There is no known cure and those suffering from it usually die before they reach 20.

Yesterday, I came across this video on You Tube….

It was put together by Danielle LaVerde. Her six year old daughter Gabreille is one of only 300 children in the United States with this very rare disease.

Danielle’s goal in creating the video, blog, and website is to raise awareness of the disease and also to raise money to help fund state-of-the-art experimental treatment for Gabrielle.

Gabrielle’s classmates have responded in kind. Ryan, one of the students at Gabrielle’s school, got his mother to put together these videos to help raise awareness…

and raise money…

I don’t know about you but by the end of these videos I was not only digging deep in my pockets for a tissue but also for some money to donate.

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