John Travolta Helps LCTF With Vasculitis
One of the auction lots in The Lauren Currie Twilight Foundation charity ball on the 8th June 2012 was a John Travolta photograph dedicated personally by John for the lucky winner. John Travolta and Kelly Preston’s son, Jett Travolta, developed Vasculitis (Kawasaki Disease) when he was very young. Kawasaki disease is a form of Vasculitis, an auto-immune disease, causing inflammation of blood vessels in the arteries, especially the coronary arteries and can affect the heart. Sadly Jett passed away in 2009 aged 16.
The Lauren Currie Twilight Foundation was delighted to receive the support of John Travolta at our auction. His agents offered a signed photograph dedicated personally to the winner of our Vasculitis auction at the LCTF annual ball. David McFarlane was the lucky winner who secured the lot on the evening which helped towards raising the final total of £8,000 on the night. John Travolta signed the photograph “To Dave, Thanks for supporting Vasculitis”. The picture was framed and will be presented to the auction winner.
The Lauren Currie Twilight Foundation was set up in Nov 2010 following the death of Lauren Currie from Vasculitis at the age of 15. The foundation set up in her memory now funds and supports Vasculitis awareness, education, research and patient support throughout the UK. The foundation has this year launched an awareness video with Dr Hilary Jones and is now distributing the DVD at events for health professionals in a bid to heighten the profile and save lives through earlier diagnosis. The foundation has also commenced funding over three years for a research project dedicated to Vasculitis with the University of Aberdeen, it is hoped that new treatment therapies can be developed for patients. Education also plays an enormous part in guiding and informing the professional and the patient and LCTF have been busy launching Vasculitis TV (www.vasculitis.tv) – a channel on our website containing media commissioned and produced by LCTF for the advancement of education into Vasculitis. For patient support, LCTF have launched patient assistance support, face to face groups, online support groups and an advice line.
