Raised in Tribute:
$11086.00Our husband/father/grandfather, Jehan Kavoosi, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease 17 years ago. Here are some other things you should know about him…
Jehan was the first of his family to immigrate to the United States from Iran, by himself at the age of 25. He self-financed his college education, earned four degrees, became a US Citizen, a college professor and brilliant watercolor artist.
At the height of the Iranian Revolution, Jehan enlisted the support of local politicians to convince the United States Government to allow his family members to move here from Iran and become citizens of the United States.
When our family outgrew our home and the price of a contractor was prohibitive, Jehan went to night school for construction, started building, and doubled the size of our house by himself.
When his daughter, Andrea, was one year old, she contracted Kawasaki Disease, which was named after the Japanese doctor who first diagnosed it. Her doctors at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh did not believe she would make it through the night. A priest had administered The Last Rites to her. Against the advisement of Andrea's medical team, Jehan somehow (before there was internet) contacted Dr. Kawasaki – in Japan, organized, funded, and insisted on a conference call between him and her doctors. That tenacity changed the hospital's treatment protocol for future Kawasaki patients, saving his daughter's life and the lives of others.
Jehan was an exceptionally strong, intelligent, persistent man that could do anything he set out to do, but he could not beat Parkinson's disease. Not with his superstar, PhD nurse caretaker wife, Mary Clair. Not with his fantastic doctors, and not with the latest research and treatments. The over 6 million people suffering from Parkinson’s need you. Their families and friends need you. The doctors and scientists need you. Thank you for making a tax-deductible gift in the memory of our beautiful, remarkable husband/father/grandfather, Jehan Kavoosi.
The Michael J. Fox Foundation is dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson's disease and to ensuring the development of improved therapies for those living with Parkinson's today. The Foundation is the world's largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson's research, with more than $800 million in high-impact research funded to date.
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