Dads Against Disease

Dads against disease is a concept that has been put in motion. My vision for this concept is that we as fathers can raise awareness of the need to conduct research into Mitochondrial and Genetic diseases.

These are the silent killers of our children, the incidence of disease in children is growing at an alarming rate. Why are these diseases becoming more prevalent in our society, I can only speculate, however you only need to read the labels on any packaged foods to raise your eyebrow with some concern.

There are so many toxic compounds used everyday in modern western homes and business. These chemicals and compounds in many case are harmless but when mixed with other chemicals can become extremely hazardous to our health and the genetic structure of our unborn children.

Modern living is affecting the lives of our children before they are born, we have become the innocent victims of a instant society. Only those entrusted to care for a disabled child truly know the cost this has placed on families, communities, the health care system and ultimately our individual countries.

The cost is measured in Billions, in Australia there are approximately 3 Million people affected by some form of disability, for every person affected there is at least one person caring for them, but normally there is a team of dedicated people.

These people in many cases are not contributing to our society with their skill's, knowledge and abilities, because they care for people they love. This is truly a loss to our country, firstly the carers who don't contribute in their chosen field of excellence and secondly the disabled children and young adults who are deprived of contributing toward and helping forge and create our countries future, we are missing out on some very bright young minds .

For many of these young people every day is spent fighting a war against an invisible enemy, an enemy attacking them from within their own bodies.

My vision involves finding a cure for mitochondrial disease.

My wife and I have had discussions with the Princess Margaret Children's Hospital foundation, the intent is to establish a fund within the foundation where all money raised will be directed toward researching and creating a cure for children.

We want to cure this disease in children, because we know if you can save the kids the flow on effects will prevent our older generation from getting dementia related disease, many of the symptoms are the same, as is the treatment and care involved for each patient regardless if they are old or young.

We would like to see labs built that can process children's genetic blood and tissue samples in Perth. Currently our Jacks tissue samples are sent to Adelaide, Sydney or London with results taking anywhere from 6 weeks to 12 months for a answer. In our case we are still waiting for answers to define Jacks Condition.

Living in Western Australia, in such a incredibly prosperous State of Australia I am stunned that we don't have world class research programs being funded by the Government and big business. Some of our brightest young talent is simply poached by big business in the US or ASIA, why because they pay good money for real talent.

In many case's these young minds are not directed to look for a cure but rather the more lucrative market of treatment. Big drug companies are not focused on curing desease.

The Australia government has always penny pinched when it comes to R&D, this needs to be fixed. Investing in young Australian talent, researching health sciences will place Western Australia and Australia on a path to curing many of the diseases that now kill young Australians and millions of kids around the World.

I believe a cure can be found or made, I don't see why with some of the smartest young and older minds in the World living in W.A why this cannot happen here. We need to start growing our own brains trust within W.A. Many countries have relied upon American to fund research, however with America spending towards 1 Trillion dollars a year on fighting wars there is less focus on saving lives and a lot less money going into research to save lives.

Western Australia will continue to lead Australia with many innovations simply because there are more smart innovative people attracted to our beautiful city of Perth and the State of W.A because this is where futures are being created. So as with most problems that need fixing you need to have either enough time money or people to come up with the correct solution. I believe in Western Australia we have all three, smart people flooding into our State from around the World, fortunes being created everyday and a strong economic forecast with the continued growth of China, India and Asia.

We have discussed this vision we have with leading genetic specialists at PMH and we hope to create a strategic plan for building a dynamic research and testing facility that will also grow our own specialists. People that will be part of the Global effort to cure this disease in Western Australia and the World.

We intend for this plan to be launched in 2008.

I need to hear from other Dads who would like to assist in creating this vision. I'm a soldier not a well connected fund raising expert.

I hope to find support from other dads who would also like to find a cure to the many genetic diseases killing our kids, it is with support from other DADs and like minded driven people this vision will be created for us all.

Whilst being a soldier has defined who I am, it will never define the man I can become or what I can achieve in this life.