Make Your Year-End Gift Now!

Your year-end gift to the Retina Foundation is crucial to fueling our mission to restore sight and prevent vision loss. Tax-deductible donations made before midnight on December 31 will help us end the year strong. You’ll also help ensure we’re prepared for the year ahead — to advance critical research, provide patient care, and drive innovations in treatment. Give now to directly impact lives and help bring us closer to a world with vision for all! Your gift helps us serve people like Brad Wolken whose story is below.

Vision-impairing diseases can impact anyone — like Brad Wolken, who was diagnosed with an inherited retinal disorder called Stargardt Disease in 2011. Stargardt Disease causes progressive vision loss for those possessing the gene. It affects approximately 1 in 10,000 children and adults. Currently there is no cure, and Brad can no longer see the faces of his children and grandchildren anymore.

But today, Brad is undergoing treatment with Dr. Mark Pennesi at the Retina Foundation. Dr. Pennesi is a world-renowned researcher in inherited retinal disease. Together, they made a plan to treat Brad’s case. Brad is participating in clinical trials and accessing available resources to help find a cure not just for himself … but for his children and grandchildren. He is grateful for donors like you who make the services and treatment free of charge for patients like himself. It’s why Brad became a donor, too, and you can see more of his story in the video below.

Your Donation Will Help Change the Future of Inherited Retinal Diseases

The Retina Foundation conducts cutting edge research to fight blinding diseases, both acquired and genetic. We work to serve patients like Brad by directly serving all ages at no cost to the patient or their families, providing clinical trial opportunities, and providing state-of-the-art testing for all ages — from infants to senior adults. Please share your year-end donation now — before midnight on December 31 — to help give the gift of sight and help make a lifetime of vision a reality for everyone!

Brad Wolken: “I am fighting every day to help find a cure.”

It started with a small dark dot in the center of Brad Wolken’s vision. He never would have dreamed his ophthalmologist would say he was going to go blind because of the inherited retinal disorder called Stargardt Disease. And he also never dreamed there was a chance his whole family would, too. But being a part of the Retina Foundation — as a patient and a donor — gives Brad hope. Please watch more of his story and join him with your support before 2024 ends.