Patricia
Durao
Co-founder, Cure & Action for Tay-Sachs (CATS) Foundation
About
Patricia’s eldest daughter Amelie was diagnosed with Tay-Sachs in 2011 at 15 months of age and upon finding that there was no dedicated charity providing support for families affected by this disease she set set-up the Cure & Action for Tay-Sachs (CATS) Foundation with her husband Daniel.
Since the charity was launched, Patricia has been able to grow The CATS Foundation so that it now offers a variety of services to its family members, including equipment, respite trips and funeral funding grants. The charity was also nominated as the patient organisation for a clinical trial into Tay-Sachs using gene therapy and Patricia and Daniel are actively involved in this ground breaking work. Sadly, Patricia and Daniel’s daughter Amelie passed away from Tay-Sachs in December 2017 at the age of 8.