Larry King, Paula Abdul, Joan Rivers, Melissa Rivers, Howie Mandel, Kirk Kerkorian, Dyan Cannon, Robert Shapiro, Jack Scalia, Phoebe Price and Rosanna Arquette are among the supporters of this Beverly Hills Foundation created to cure the muscle-wasting disease Hereditary Inclusion Body Myopathy (HIBM), which affects mainly young adults in their late teens and twenties.
Community leaders who started this nonprofit foundation are hoping to raise funds and awareness at the Spring Gala Dinner on June 5, 2008 at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The aim of the foundation is to raise $5,000,000 in the next three years in order to find a cure.
Larry King and Robert Shapiro are among the scheduled speakers at the event, while Phoebe Price will present Paula Abdul with an award for her continuous support.
Auction items will include a dinner with Larry King, which has already received a bid of $10,000.
HIBM is a disease that was only identified eight years ago by researchers at the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. While a cure has not yet been found, the cause of the disease has been traced to a mutation on chromosome 9 which blocks the body’s ability to produce sialic acid. Starting with a weakening of the arm and leg muscles, HIBM can lead to complete disability over a span of three to ten years.
While adequate funding for clinical trials is necessary, scientists’ do believe that a cure is likely in three to five years since they have been able to identify the Gene responsible for the HIBM.
"There’s a tremendous amount of cutting edge research being done globally that we are following very carefully and funding," said Gila Michael, founder of the Neuromuscular Disease Foundation. "It’s considered a rare disorder, but more and more cases are popping up all the time. We’ve become aware of cases in Ireland, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Italy, Korea, and of course here in the United States."
The goal of the Neuromuscular Disease Foundation is to raise $1 million a year for five years in order to fund research programs at various hospitals including Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, UCLA Medical Center, the Mary Crowley Medical Research Center at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas and Ishizo Nishino Hospital in Japan.
Michael started the foundation after her own daughter was diagnosed with this condition over a year ago. Michael Banyan, another foundation board member who believes that it’s important to get the community involved as sciense is close to finding a cure, was also diagnosed with the disease.
The Board of Directors include: Lonnie Delshad, Nir Hanien, Bank of Leumi, Robert Becher, Halston Mikail Blackstone Capital Group, Doran Adhami, Haleh Mehdizadeh, Larry Gold, Catherine Gabbay, and Michael Banayan.
The foundation would like to thank Nancy Sinatra, Melissa Rivers, Joan Rivers, Jack Scalia, Sam Nazarian SBE, Melissa Lemer of Silver Spoon, Rosanna Arquette, Rabbi Baron and Temple of Performing Arts for their continued effort, energy and compassion.
To make a donation, contact Gila Michael at (310) 276 – 2980.
Spring Gala Dinner to Raise Funds For HIBM
