Sophia’s Cure Surpasses $200,000 Goal

Families of SMA would like to thank Sophia’s Cure and Vincent & Catherine Gaynor of Wantagh, New York for all their hard work and dedication to raising a remarkable amount of money and awareness for SMA! Shortly after they found out their daughter Sophia has Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA Type I) they set up a gift registry through the FSMA website and committed to raising $100,000 dedicated to stem cell research to “make an impact and not stand by helplessly”. In order to raise this money they immediately began spreading the word about SMA through numerous television interviews, radio talk shows, and newspaper articles all over the country! As soon as the word got out about Sophia and SMA, donations began pouring in from all over the country. Sophia’s story also inspired those without previous ties to their families such as Ryan Burkett and Dennis Edison. After reading about Sophia in a local newspaper they decided to ride their bicycles across the country from New York to California in order to help raise awareness about SMA and funding for a potential cure. It was not long before the Gaynor’s had met their $100,000 goal and decided to raise it to $200,000! The fundraisers that they organized were one right after another and we cannot thank them enough for their unending determination to raise this amount of money so shortly after their daughter’s diagnosis. Overall, they have now surpassed their goal of $200,000!

When talking about Sophia, Vincent Gaynor said: “She is completely paralyzed. She may never crawl, walk, sit up, talk, swallow or breathe on her own. But that is not where her power lies, it is in her beauty and in her message. There are so many things she may never have, but one thing that I am certain of is that she will always have LOVE.”

Thank you Vincent, Catherine and Sophia for making such an impact, and for your continued support for Families of SMA!