A note of thanks from Karli
Last Wednesday was as magical as it gets with the bright joy of giving. I want to personally thank all of our vendors, donors, shoppers, and overall supporters for being there and supporting us for our second year joining Mrs. Judson in her Holiday Boutique. Thank you to everyone that took time out of your busy schedules to support our cause. The wonderful conversations I had with all of you last Wednesday night truly made my heart smile and no amount of words of thanks and appreciation will be able to fully convey the depth of my gratitude. I am so blessed to be surrounded by a group of people who are empathetic, selfless and overall wonderful people. Thank you for opening your hearts to Double Strand.
Merry Christmas to you all and a healthy and happy 2020!
Much love (as always),
Karli Wallace
Event Recap
The holiday boutique was a fun, heartwarming night of friendship and raised over $15,000 for VHL cancer research! The rain stopped just in time and the turnout was great – a packed house! A huge thank you to Audrey Judson and her husband Jeff for opening their home for the event, and to everyone that shopped and bid on silent auction items, and to those of you that couldn’t make it, but were kind enough to make a donation.
It was a special treat to renew bonds with many friends, and with parents from our kids’ early childhood days, when life was more carefree.
Double Strand plans to award a $250,000 research grant in March, 2020. Every dollar raised from the Holiday Boutique will be applied to this effort. Thanks to the support of our loyal donors over the last few years, and from the Holiday Boutique, we are closing in on this goal, with $205,000 raised to date. Double Strand’s $250,000 grant will provide initial funding to launch a larger scope project in collaboration with corporate donors and/or NIH. We are thrilled to be moving forward!
We have selected Othon Iliopoulos, MD from Harvard / Massachusetts General Hospital, and Dr. Paula Hammond, PhD from the Koch Department of Chemical Engineering at MIT, who have joined our team to further John’s model hypothesis utilizing a nanoparticle delivery system that will deliver tumor-killing drugs in a “smart bomb” fashion. This would be a major medical breakthrough and avoid major surgeries to remove tumors over and over again. It would be a dream come true.
Thank you for standing with us as we strive to improve the health and future of the thousands of people with VHL and cancer, and which will enable our daughter, Karli, to pursue her lifelong goals.
Happy Holidays,
Karynne & John
