2020 DSF Patient Assistance Grant Program As our community well knows, living with Dravet syndrome has significant direct and indirect costs for the patient's family. In a 2018 publication it was found that the average total annual financial burden for a family with a child with Dravet syndrome was $106,378. These costs included direct [...]
It is not uncommon in a rare disease like Dravet syndrome (DS) to have a physician prescribe a medication for “off-label” use by their patient. This means that the drug is not being used in the manner specified in the FDA’s approved package labeling and is being used for a disease that it is not [...]
Free Webinar: IEPs for Children Severely Affected by DEEs DEE-P Connections is hosting an introductory webinar about Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) on Wednesday, February 26th at 2pm. This webinar, led by Monika Jones, JD CEO of The Brain Recovery Project, is aimed at helping families of children severely affected by DEEs navigate the [...]
DSF is pleased to announce that we now have ICD-10 codes for Dravet syndrome. The International Classification of Disease (ICD) is a system used by healthcare providers to classify and code diagnoses, symptoms, and procedure recorded in conjunction with hospital care in the U.S., and it is important for health insurance reimbursement, administration, epidemiology, and [...]
Ciara's Spirit of Hope Award Nominations Nominations are now open for the 2020 Ciara's Spirit of Hope Award! From 2010-2015 the Spirit of Hope award was presented annually to volunteers at DSF’s annual gala, Ciara’s Butterfly Bash. It recognized parents, siblings, and volunteers whose dedication through service to DSF is truly outstanding and inspiring. Ciara’s Butterfly [...]
Give Up Your Cup Each March, DSF challenges you to Give Up Your Cup. This annual virtual fundraiser asks you to give up your coffee, tea or other “cup” for one day, one week, one month or anything in between, then donate what you would have spent to DSF. You can help to [...]
2017 Research Grant Recipient Publication DSF is pleased to share that 2017 research grant recipient David R. Hampson, PhD, had his paper on gene therapy published in the journal "Gene Therapy." Dr. Hampson's grant, Exploring gene therapy to treat sudden unexpected death and other pathological features of Dravet syndrome had a goal to [...]
This Valentine’s Day, I want to recognize and applaud the amazing caregivers in our community. It may not seem like a traditional message for this holiday, but Valentine’s Day is about celebrating love. And let’s face it - what we do as caregivers, day in and day out, is a constant expression of love. It [...]
Those with Dravet syndrome have epilepsy that is typically not well controlled. In addition to frequent seizures, many patients regularly experience status epilepticus, which are prolonged seizures lasting more than 5 minutes. This is a serious medical emergency which can be life threatening and requires emergency intervention with rescue medications. Patients may also experience seizure [...]
The journal Epilepsia has devoted a Special Issue to "Dravet Syndrome and other Sodium Channel Related Encephalopathies". It is Volume 60, Issue S3, and can be accessed online - it contains many good articles, all of which are Open Access. I will point out one here - a review by an international panel of distinguished [...]
