Movie executive Gordon Gray was rallying celebrity friends to help him raise the $10 million needed to fund research for a cure for the deadly Batten Disease that threatens the lives of his daughters, Charlotte & Gwenyth Gray.
On Wednesday, Jennifer Garner, an recent patron of the family, held a fundraiser to support the Charlotte and Gwenyth Gray Foundation and its mission of raising the $10-12 million needed to accelerate research and find potential treatments for the disease.
"Kristen and Gordon Gray are not going to let us avert our eyes from their daughters' condition," Garner said.
"In the middle of their pain and grief, they are going to face the facts of Batten disease and look us in the eye and ask us to join them in the fight."
A couple of months ago, he and his wife, Kristen, learned that their 4-year-old, Charlotte, has a rare neurodegenerative brain condition, Batten Disease, which carries a life expectancy of just a few years.
Shortly after the preschooler’s diagnosis, the family had their other daughter, Gwenyth, 20 months, tested for it and discovered she is afflicted as well.
Neurodegenerative brain condition Batten Disease, affected children suffer mental impairment, worsening seizures, and progressive loss of sight and motor skills.
Eventually, children with Batten disease become blind, bedridden, and demented. Batten disease is often fatal by the late teens or twenties.
With very little time to try and save the girls, Gordon and Kristen have started fundraising to accelerate research on three possible treatments gene therapy, stem-cell therapy, and small molecule therapy.
However, the price tag on the research is quite steep . The cost that researchers are looking at is between $10 to $12 million. Gordon is doing all he can by putting together all his resources, calling on all his celebrity friends, to spread the word that his family desperately needs help.
Gray has raised an amount almost closed to the 3 million dollar mark. "We still have a way to go, but each event brings awareness, touches new people and helps spread out message which is that we want to cure this horrible disease so that no other child will suffer," the Grays said in a statement to PEOPLE.
The stars who had extended their support to Gordon's appeal were Julianne Moore, Alyssa Milano, Amanda Seyfried, Gwyneth Paltrow, Channing Tatum, Jessica Alba, Kate Walsh and Jennifer Garner. They all have risen to the occasion by asking their millions of followers on social media to donate.
https://www.people.com/article/jennifer-garner-hosts-fundraiser-charlotte-gwenyth-gray-foundation-cure-batten-disease
