Devin received the November NBA Cares Community Assist Award presented by Kaiser Permanente in recognition of his efforts to impact the lives of local children and families through his Devin Booker Starting Five initiative. He designated the $10,000 grant portion of the NBA Cares Community Assist Award to the International 22q11.2 Foundation, in honor of his sister, Mya, who also has the deletion. “We are truly grateful to Devin for his donation to the Foundation, and are excited to team up with Devin and his family to continue to bring awareness to this little known genetic condition,” said Marc Weinberg, acting Board Chair, International 22q Foundation.
Devin met with the families, directly following the game, bringing the group down to the court to take photos, sign autographs and talk with them. He was even “interviewed” courtside by Louis Cavana, a young adult with 22q11.2 deletion, fist bumping him for a good job, after all the basketball questions.
The Grunduski Group is proud to support the International 22q Foundation in this new initiative; we look forward to developing the partnership alongside the International 22q11.2 Foundation with Devin, CAA and the Booker Family.
The International 22q11.2 Foundation, founded in 2003, was created to support families affected by 22q11.2 deletions (due to a small piece of chromosome 22 missing) and later changed its name to include families with duplications (an extra piece of chromosome 22 material included). The Foundation offers the following to 22q11.2 families: opportunities to connect with other 22q families, educational seminars and conferences for families to learn more about the conditions from medical experts across the world, informational updates providing the latest on 22q11.2 deletion and duplication from researchers in the field, and strengthening support of one another via friend-raising events.
“These conditions may cause a variety of medical problems such as heart defects, problems fighting infection, differences in the palate (roof of the mouth), and developmental delay or autism, to name a few, but no two children are affected in the same way,” said Donna McDonald-McGinn MS, LCGC, Director, 22q and You Center; Associate Director, Clinical Genetics Center; Chief, Section of Genetic Counseling at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania; and Founding Board Member of the International 22q11.2 Foundation, Inc. “The 22q11.2 deletion is generally identified as a new difference in the child born with associated features, but at times can be found in a parent as well, whereas the 22q11.2 duplication, is frequently identified in many members of the family over several generations. Most importantly, the chromosome 22q11.2 deletion and duplication syndrome are very common, and likely affect thousands of children and adults around the world. A recent study found both conditions to occur in ~1/1000 pregnancies. Importantly, new diagnostic testing in combination with increased awareness events are bringing more and more affected individuals to attention where they may have gone undiagnosed in the past.
For more information on 22q11.2 deletion or duplication, visit www.22q.org. Donations to support the Foundation are accepted at www.22q.org.
