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CDKL5 Charity Walk 2015 CDKL5 Charity Walk 2015

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PHOTOS & VIDEO – CDKL5 Charity Walk 2015

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Richard pictured at last years CDKL5 Awareness Day 2014  with Jonna, Emma, Maia and Brendan Malone. Picture: Oisin Mc Hugh

Richard pictured at last years CDKL5 Awareness Day 2014 with Jonna, Emma, Maia and Brendan Malone. Picture: Oisin Mc Hugh

The third annual CDKL5 Charity Walk 2015 took place today, Saturday June 20. The aim of the walk was to raise awareness of this rare neurological condition as well as raise some funds towards research for a cure.

Maia Malone, an 8-year-old girl from county Limerick suffers from this rare neurological disorder. As a result of the condition Maia has severe daily seizures, which are not tamed by medication, she also suffers from gastrointestinal problems, visual difficulties, sleep disturbances, apraxia, bruxism, and she cannot talk or look after herself. Maia needs around the clock care by her family and those around there.

The day was a huge success, a crowd gathered at Limerick’s People’s Park and there was a performance by CBS Pipe Band, who lead the walk out of the park.


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Speaking at the event Maia’s Mum, Jonna said: “By raising awareness we are hoping that when people know more about CDKL5 and more doctors hear more about it, other children will get to be diagnosed sooner than Maia, Maia was four years of age before she got the diagnosis. The diagnosis has helped us to understand Maia’s condition a bit better.”

“We are raising a little bit of funds today but that is not the main point of today, today is about awareness raising but the funds that are raised will go towards research for the condition. In Europe, they are doing very positive research about protein replacement therapy that maybe will be a cure for the condition, at the moment there isn’t one; but in time. Any money raised today will go towards funding the research.”

This year the event started by the planting of a shrub in People’s Park to mark the occasion and in honour of all the children in Ireland suffering from CDKL5. The hope is that the tradition of the walk will continue year on year and in the coming years the walk will start and finish at the shrub that will be planted this year.

As per the tradition of the last two years, the CDKL5 Charity Walk 2015 started from People’s Park at 1pm and headed to Arthur’s Quay Park through the city and returned to People’s Park again in order to capture the attention of the Limerick people along the way.

In previous years the walk has taken place in September, but as June is the official international CDKL5 awareness month and June 17 is CDKL5 Awareness Day, the walk took place in June. The international Awareness Day was chosen in honour of Glyn’s Legacy and all those affected by CDKL5 Disorder.

Email Jonna at [email protected] for more info.

 

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CDKL5 is a rare X-linked genetic disorder that results in early onset, difficult to control seizures, and severe neuro-developmental impairment. CDKL5 is classed as rare disease however, more and more children and indeed adults are being diagnosed every day.

The CDKL5 gene provides instructions for making a protein that is essential for normal brain development. Although little is known about the protein’s function, it may play a role in regulating the activity of other genes, including the MECP2 gene (or Rett Syndrome). The CDKL5 protein acts as a kinase, which is an enzyme that changes the activity of other proteins by adding oxygen and phosphate atoms (a phosphate group) at specific positions. Researchers have not yet determined which proteins are targeted by the CDKL5 protein.

Most children affected by CDKL5 suffer from seizures that begin in the first few months of life. Most cannot walk, talk or feed themselves, and many are confined to wheelchairs, dependent on others for everything. Many also suffer with scoliosis, visual impairment, sensory issues and various gastrointestinal difficulties. As time has gone on it appears that there might be other symptoms that play a role in the condition.

Ten years ago, Professor John Christodoulou led an Australian research team that studied the DNA of three children from the same family and found a common genetic abnormality occurring on a gene that would later become known as CDKL5. His research was published in the prestigious journal, The American Journal of Human Genetics 2004. Glyn was one of the three children at the focus of Dr. Christodoulou’s study.

Glyn’s Legacy was in his DNA, which helped scientists to begin to identify what we now refer to as a CDKL5 Disorder. Unfortunately, Glyn passed on June 17, 1997, before his disease-causing gene was discovered, but his tragic, short life had an important impact on the children who have since been diagnosed with the same devastating disorder.

For more information check out their website here.
Check out their Facebook here.
Read more about the CDKL5 walk here.
Visit the CDKL5 organisation homepage here.

Photos by Jonathan Baynes ILoveLimerick.com 2015. All Rights Reserved. www.johnnybaynesmedia.com

 

Richard is a presenter, producer, songwriter and actor. He was named the Limerick Person of the Year (2011) and won an online award at the Metro Éireann Media and Multicultural Awards (2011) for promoting multi-culturalism online. Richard says that the ilovelimerick.com concept is very much a community driven project that aims to document life in Limerick. So, that in 20 years time people can look back and remember the events that were making the headlines.