Hope toward a cure for Christmas

While many people are wishing for presents this Christmas, one Ocean Springs family is praying for a miracle. That is to save a special little girl from a deadly disease that has taken a severe downturn since last year.
From the looks of the smiling little girl on Santa’s lap, you may not be able to tell that four-year-old Willow from Ocean Springs is fighting a deadly disease that her mother says seems to be getting worse every day. “It’s hard because we know what she was doing last year. She was walking so it’s hard to see the changes and to wonder how many more Christmases we have with her.”
At age two, Willow’s mom Amber found out her daughter had multiple sulfatase deficiency, an extremely rare disease that cause Willow’s cells to dissolve, slowly shutting down her entire body.
For most, the holidays are a joyful time of year, but Willow’s family can’t help but see the decline her health has taken since last Christmas. Willow’s sister Kylee Cannan said, “She doesn’t walk at all anymore. She can hardly hold herself up.”
Amber hasn’t backed down in the fight to help her daughter survive. Working with her non-profit Warriors for Willow, she’s been able to contact international doctors who are currently working toward a cure. “They’ve created a medicine, very hopeful that that’s going to be a treatment we can push forward in a clinical trial.”
This Christmas you can help Willow and other children with her disease by logging onto unitedmsdfoundation.org. “We want to create a hope for the future families for a treatment because it’s very difficult to watch your child slowly slip away and not be able to do anything.”