UNICO to host thalassemia symposium March 21

UNICO Rehoboth Area Chapter will conduct its annual thalassemia symposium and fundraiser from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., Thursday, March 21, at St. Edmond’s education center in Rehoboth Beach. 

Special guests will be Ralph Colasanti, a Delawarean and the first person with this disease to serve as national president of the Cooley’s Anemia/Thalassemia Foundation, and Craig Butler, the foundation’s national executive director. Colasanti and Butler will discuss current treatment and therapy options. Along with Dr. Steven Stanzione, a retired hematologist and oncologist who is coordinating the symposium, they will conclude the event with a question-and-answer session. Many Rehoboth chapter members have family and friends afflicted with this disease.

This event is open to the public, and cost is $25 per person. For more information or to RSVP, email unicodelawaredistrict1@gmail.com. Panini and beverages will be served.

UNICO National and its chapters around the country have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in an effort to find a cure. The genetic disease requires those afflicted to have frequent, lifelong blood transfusions. Affected children, who in the past lived only to about 5 years of age, now live well into adulthood. Treatment centers and clinical trials for children and adults are located at hospitals and healthcare centers throughout the U.S. But a cure has not been found. Funds are still needed for research, treatment, transfusions and medical costs that burden family resources.

The Cooley’s Anemia Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, has been a strong and supportive partner for families living with thalassemia for more than 60 years. 

In 1954, Frank Ficarra was a young Italian American living and working in Brooklyn, N.Y. Two of his young children were diagnosed with this rare blood disease. He started organizing neighborhood blood drives to ensure that his children and others like them would have the precious blood they needed to survive. He and other parents of Cooley’s Anemia patients eventually formed the foundation, which has grown into a national and international force. What began as the story of one man’s family is today the story of many families working together toward a common goal – better treatments and a cure for a disease that threatens their children.

For more information, contact unicodelawaredistrict1@gmail.com.