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Imagine
a major city with half its power plants shut down. At best,
such conditions would produce a "brown out" with large sections of
the city working far below optimum efficiency.
 Now imagine your body with half of its
energy producing facilities shut down. The brain would be
impaired, vision would be dim, muscles would twitch
spastically or be too weak to allow you to walk or write, your
heart would be weakened, and you would not be able to eat and
digest your food.
For large numbers of
people, especially children, this is precisely the situation in
which they find themselves due to defects in the mitochondria,
organelles found in every cell of the body which are responsible
for the body's energy production. Mitochondrial diseases
compromise their lives and can be fatal.
The United Mitochondrial
Disease Foundation (UMDF) is redefining hope for families affected
by mitochondrial diseases - hereditary disorders, now considered
as common as childhood cancers, that affect the cell's ability to
produce life-sustaining energy. Our mission is to promote
research for the cure and treatment of mitochondrial diseases and
to provide support to affected families. You can visit their
website at www.UMDF.org.
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