A. Hope for MELAS

On March 11, 2018, our sweet little 5 year old, Aria Hope, was exhibiting stroke symptoms and complaining of headaches. We rushed her to the emergency room, where they immediately performed a CT scan. They discovered swelling on her brain. They rushed her to Primary Children's hospital, where she was admitted to the neurotrauma unit. They did an MRI and discovered that she had had a stroke. We (mom and dad) requested an EEG to be done, where they also discovered that she was having complex partial seizures. They did every blood test known to man, and she was diagnosed with MELAS syndrome. MELAS syndrome is an extremely rare mitochondrial progressive neurodegenerative disease. MELAS stands for Mitochondrial Myopathy, Encephalopathy, Lactic Acidosis, and Stroke Syndrome. Its current mortality rate after the onset of symptoms is approximately 5 years. We are in need of help for funding treatments, medications, therapies, etc for her, as insurance will only cover so much. Please consider helping our sweet little Aria Hope.