The Mid-Year Grant Review

Every fall I meet with our grant recipients, either in person in their labs or via skype, to speak with them about their progress on research The Baby Alex Foundation is funding. We have given over $250,000 in seed grants since 2009, and the work we have funded is pretty incredible. Although brain injuries can be devastating, the field of pediatric brain injury research is one of the fields where research is making significant progress. If Alex had been born today, his life would have taken a different course. In just these past six years since Alex was born, his shunt has become outdated. Newer shunts on the market today have many fewer risks over a lifetime. Rather than having to undergo countless MRI's and CT scans with sedation, he would have had a simple helmet attached to his head and a peaceful room to rest in while the machine captured images. If he had been entered into one of the clinical trials underway, he might have been given one of the new drugs on the market which may have had the ability to arrest brain injury following an insult, and perhaps his cerebral palsy would have been milder. The research we fund does not help Alex today. That's okay, because someone somewhere conducted research on countless topics which helped Alex survive and thrive in ways he would not have if he had been born 12 years ago, or 50 years ago. So, when we meet the researchers who have spent their lives trying to improve the future for children, we are inspired and profoundly proud to be a part of it all. Both of the 2013 research projects are looking at ways that the brain reacts to insults, such as a lack of oxygen or an infection, and how early interventions might arrest injury to brain cells. In just six months, they have presented findings to national conferences and have written papers to be published in medical journals. And both plan to apply for larger grants from the NIH for further research and possible clinical trials. As we head into the winter and make plans for our next year of fundraising, we find renewed strength in our mission and efforts from following the progress of the research we fund. Alex sat in on one of the skype meetings. As much as the researchers inspire us, Alex inspires them. He brings a human element to the lab work. He serves as a model for what we all want for a child with brain damage, or any child for that matter--a happy, inquisitive kid. Our team at the Foundation is growing, and our reach is increasing and at these times, I feel we are improving the world.