April 2022 Newsletter
Roger Smith – “A Guy You Want On Your Team”
|
Interview with Nancy Speller
|
American Idol Winner or Not, Christian Guardino is a Star in our Eyes!
Article by Judy Wieber
Patchogue's hometown kid, Christian Guardino, makes it to the top eleven on American Idol
If you haven't already seen him on America's Got Talent, maybe you have heard his beautiful falsetto crescendos, and bluesy jazzy tones on American Idol? Singing his rendition of “Take me to Church," he once again, wow-ed judges Lionel Richie, Katie Perry, and Luke Bryan, as well as the American audience, to earn him a position amongst the top eleven.
Aside from Christian's amazing singing voice, he was born with a rare progressive retinal eye condition, leading many to a life of very low vision, and in some cases, total blindness, of which until recently, had no cure. However, in 2013, Christian underwent an FDA controlled genetic therapy, resulting in Christian regaining a considerable amount of vision.
Christian regards his participation in American Idol as a crazy, unbelievable adventure. He has been quoted as saying, "I have been singing since I can remember and I know this is what I want to do with my life." Aside from sharing his talent with the world, Christian can also be seen as a brave young person, taking a leap of faith, as being one of the first candidates to undergo this sight restoring procedure which will undoubtingly open up the doors for others struggling with this same eye condition in the future.
As a person who has lost her sight to glaucoma secondary to Juvenile rheumatoid Arthritis, though not the same condition as Christian, I can certainly appreciate everything he and his family have gone through to get to this point in his medical journey. Listening to an interview conducted with Christian and his Mom, they had expressed their overwhelming joy for the gene therapy (produced by Penn and Spark Therapeutics) and how they wanted for others to know about it.
I for one, would like to know more about the trials and advocacy involved with finding out and pursuing these medical break throughs. What kind of funding is available for this type of research? What types of things stop or slow up the research? Does our medical system, as it is presently, help or hinder patients from finding out about such discoveries?
As an employee of Suffolk Independent Living Organization, I am sure SILO and it's participants would love to hear Christian's journey in person at our at our October 2022 Conference, to be held mid month at the Holiday Inn in Holtsville.
So hey Christian, if you are hearing us, what do you say?
Article by Judy Wieber
Patchogue's hometown kid, Christian Guardino, makes it to the top eleven on American Idol
If you haven't already seen him on America's Got Talent, maybe you have heard his beautiful falsetto crescendos, and bluesy jazzy tones on American Idol? Singing his rendition of “Take me to Church," he once again, wow-ed judges Lionel Richie, Katie Perry, and Luke Bryan, as well as the American audience, to earn him a position amongst the top eleven.
Aside from Christian's amazing singing voice, he was born with a rare progressive retinal eye condition, leading many to a life of very low vision, and in some cases, total blindness, of which until recently, had no cure. However, in 2013, Christian underwent an FDA controlled genetic therapy, resulting in Christian regaining a considerable amount of vision.
Christian regards his participation in American Idol as a crazy, unbelievable adventure. He has been quoted as saying, "I have been singing since I can remember and I know this is what I want to do with my life." Aside from sharing his talent with the world, Christian can also be seen as a brave young person, taking a leap of faith, as being one of the first candidates to undergo this sight restoring procedure which will undoubtingly open up the doors for others struggling with this same eye condition in the future.
As a person who has lost her sight to glaucoma secondary to Juvenile rheumatoid Arthritis, though not the same condition as Christian, I can certainly appreciate everything he and his family have gone through to get to this point in his medical journey. Listening to an interview conducted with Christian and his Mom, they had expressed their overwhelming joy for the gene therapy (produced by Penn and Spark Therapeutics) and how they wanted for others to know about it.
I for one, would like to know more about the trials and advocacy involved with finding out and pursuing these medical break throughs. What kind of funding is available for this type of research? What types of things stop or slow up the research? Does our medical system, as it is presently, help or hinder patients from finding out about such discoveries?
As an employee of Suffolk Independent Living Organization, I am sure SILO and it's participants would love to hear Christian's journey in person at our at our October 2022 Conference, to be held mid month at the Holiday Inn in Holtsville.
So hey Christian, if you are hearing us, what do you say?