Congratulations to our grant recipients!

January 1, 2016

The Board of Directors of The OMSLife Foundation is pleased to announce the distribution of funds from our 2015 fundraising efforts. Our 2015 projects and grants focused on work that meet the criteria of our mission statement- Raising awareness of OMS, developing a support network for OMS caregivers, and funding research for a cure for OMS.

Our 2016 grant recipient is actually a partnership with the Pablove Foundation to fund OMS research projects. Working in tandem with Pablove, we are confident that we can fund more research projects that have been reviewed by an internal review board of doctors. The strength of these two foundations working together on OMS research projects will be a model for OMS research into the future.

Secondly, we will continue to provide OMS caregiver conferences where we connect the families with OMS specialists. Since 2014, we have hosted these regional conferences in Los Angeles, Houston, Boston, and Cincinnati. In 2016, we will host a conference in Los Angeles featuring Dr. Wendy Mitchell and Dr. Michael Pranzatelli, two of the leading researchers and specialists in the world. We also plan to have one or two additional conferences in 2016. These conferences are provided free of charge with all costs for the conference and speakers covered by the foundation. We also host a family event in the evening where OMS warriors can meet other children.

Thirdly, we are honored to co-host the 2016 OMS/DES Medical Conference in Abingdon England. This will be the tenth event, which is held every two years and brings together all of the OMS specialists throughout the world. We are thrilled to partner with the Dancing Eyes Support Trust in England to host this event.

Thank you to all of our donors who makes these projects and grants possible. With the help of our donors, we are making a difference in the battle against OMS!

February 10, 2015

The OMSlife Foundation is pleased to announce the results of our sixth annual OMS Teddy Bear Drive.  Local coordinators distributed over 5,900 new teddy bears and toys to children in hospitals across the United States to raise awareness of OMS.  Also, we raised over $33,000 for OMS awareness and research.

The 2014 grant recipients were:

Dr. Pedro DeAlarcon,   University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria

Dr. Megan Langille,  Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

•The Pablove Foundation’s OMS Fund

Congratulations to each of our 2014 grant recipients.  A special thank you the many teddy bear coordinators across the country and to the generous contributions from everyone who participated in our 2014 OMS Teddy Bear Drive!

January 10, 2014

The OMSlife Foundation is pleased to announce the results of our fifth annual OMS Teddy Bear Drive.  Local coordinators distributed over 6,000 new teddy bears and toys to children in 45 hospitals across the country to raise awareness of OMS.  Also, we raised over $40,000 for OMS awareness and research.

The 2013 grant recipients were:

Dr. Michael Pranzatelli, The National Pediatric Myoclonus Center, Springfield, Illinois.
•Dr. Wendy Mitchell, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

Congratulations to each of our 2013 grant recipients.  A special thank you the many teddy bear coordinators across the country and to the generous contributions from everyone who participated in our 2013 OMS Teddy Bear Drive!

January 27, 2013

The OMSlife Foundation is pleased to announce the results of our fourth annual OMS Teddy Bear Drive.  Local coordinators distributed over 3,300 new teddy bears and toys to children in 32 hospitals across the country to raise awareness of OMS.  Also, our goal to raise $25,000 for OMS research was exceeded as we collected $43,800 from 280 personal and corporate donors.

The board of directors of The OMSlife Foundation has elected to direct the monetary proceeds collected from the Fourth Annual OMS Teddy Bear Drive to the following recipients:

  • Dr. Michael Pranzatelli, The National Pediatric Myoclonus Center, Springfield, Illinois. Dr. Pranzatelli has been instrumental in progressing research in OMS for over 20 years. Through his research, he has helped hundreds of children around the world enjoy a higher quality of life.
  • Dr. Mark Gorman, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Gorman, through collaboration with OMS researchers and doctors worldwide, has embraced the approach of holistic treatment of OMS. He has aligned a team of experts of varying disciplines to assist families in addressing issues with oncology, neurology, physical, speech, and occupational therapies, nutrition, and school placement and programs.
  • Tony Tzoubris, Pediatric OMS Research Fund, Chicago Illinois. Tony, in his collaboration with The Dancing Eyes Syndrome Trust in London, England, has been a leader in bringing the OMS medical community together. With Tony’s assistance, this group has hosted multiple OMS medical conferences with leading OMS experts from around the world, enabling collaboration at a greater level than would normally occur for a rare disease.

We applaud the contributions that these three individuals and their organizations have done to progress the collaborative efforts in research, treatment, and life skills for our OMS warriors. Congratulations to the recipients of the 2012 recipients of the Annual OMS Teddy Bear Drive Fundraiser.