#b#Zoey Ganesh#/b#
Town Center Elementary School PTA raised more than $2,500 to honor Zoey Ganesh, a kindergarten student at the school, who died in November, 2012. The school-wide coin drive to support pediatric cancer research raised awareness and funds to honor Zoey, who died from diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, a rare form of pediatric brain cancer. The staff also held a “wear jeans” day when they wore Zoey’s favorite colors, pink, purple, and red, and donated to the Zoey Ganesh Research Fund.
A Plainsboro resident, Zoey died two months after her brain tumor was diagnosed. She was the daughter of Suman and Karthik Ganesh, who worked with the school’s PTA president, Joyce Trotman, to coordinate the coin drive and the faculty’s jean day event. Her family established the Zoey Ganesh DIPG Research Fund at the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health in Palo Alto, California. E-mail loreniatistrapp@hotmail.com for more information.
#b#Education Conference#/b#
It took two years for Anne Geremia of West Windsor to get a diagnosis for her symptoms. In 2009 she began to struggle with planning her days, working, and was often confused. Doctors had no definitive answers for the then 57-year-old.
“My wife, who had been an outgoing, fun-loving woman who enjoyed challenging herself, became overwhelmed with the simplest of tasks, was rather apathetic most of the time, and struggled to speak and convey her thoughts,” said her husband, Jim. “I took her to specialists in Pennsylvania who gave her a diagnosis of dementia and possibly one called corticobasal degeneration.”
Two years later, the initial diagnosis was confirmed by a neurologist in New York City, and the couple learned that she had a progressive degenerative brain disease called frontotemporal degeneration that has no real treatment and no cure. FTD, a disease process that affects the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, causes a group of brain disorders that are characterized by changes in behavior and personality, language and/or motor skills, and an inevitable deterioration in a person’s ability to function. FTD is often diagnosed when people are in their 50s.
The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, a national nonprofit based in Philadelphia, made an example of Geremia’s case in press materials for its education conference and annual meeting at the Crowne Plaza in White Plains on Friday, March 14, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Visit www.theaftd.org.
Dr. Edward Huey, assistant professor in the departments of psychiatry and neurology at Columbia University, will give an overview of FTD as well as speak about trends and development in the field of FTD research. Robert Bazell, former NBC chief science and medical correspondent, will give the keynote address.
The education conference features an interactive program, focused on the issues and challenges that may arise at different stages of FTD. Attendees may choose breakout sessions for making a life, coping with language changes, coping with behavior changes, comfort care, and end of life considerations. Register at www.theaftd.org. Free for family caregivers and those affected with FTD.
