- "Team Human Powered Potential" blows through original
$28 million fundraising goal
- With the original milestone completed, and thanks to the
continued generosity of an anonymous donor, an increased
$41M goal has been set in honor of
the team's 41 days at sea.
- All contributions received will continue to be matched
three-to-one. Learn more and
donate: michaeljfox.org/summer2024
NEW
YORK, Aug. 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- After
41 days of open ocean rowing and traversing 2,800 miles from
Monterey Bay, California, to
Hanalei Bay, Kauai, Hawaii, four
endurance athletes dubbed "Team Human Powered Potential"
(Team HPP) successfully completed their arduous and inspirational
journey on Friday, July 26.
Witnessing this epic feat, thousands of members of the
Parkinson's community responded with messages of support and with
donations that have now exceeded the team's original ambitious
fundraising goal of $28 million.
The community's impact was quadrupled by an unprecedented
three-to-one match from an anonymous benefactor. In response, the
match has been generously extended to help the team reach a new
fundraising goal of $41 million in
honor of their 41 days at sea.
Team HPP was one of nine teams participating in The World's
Toughest Row. Patrick Morrissey, 53,
of Durango, Colorado, diagnosed
with Parkinson's disease (PD) in 2019, alongside his friends and
fellow rowers Brendan Cusick,
Peter Durso and Scott Forman, made history in three epic ways:
Setting a race record by raising more than any other World's
Toughest Row individual team since its inception with $10,000 for each mile rowed, becoming the first
four-man American team to complete the Pacific crossing and
Morrissey also becomes the first person with PD to row across the
Pacific.
A Summer of Community and Epic Challenges Inspires Team HPP's
Final Chapter
Team HPP's motto is "Inspired to Endure," and the team never
backs down from an ambitious challenge. With the original
$28-million fundraising goal now
exceeded, the Foundation invites the worldwide Parkinson's
community to express its support of Team HPP and help achieve the
increased $41 million goal. With the
three-to-one match generously extended, every $1 raised equals $4, every $25
equals $100, every $100 equals $400,
and so on. All funds raised go to the Foundation's mission to drive
critical research toward better treatments and a cure for
Parkinson's disease.
Learn more and donate today at michaeljfox.org/summer2024.
"Just as the ocean brings unexpected challenges like sudden
storms or rogue waves, Parkinson's adds unpredictable stresses in
different environments," says Morrissey. "As a team, we were able
to manage despite the obstacles we faced on the water. I hope to
inspire at least one person to be able to endure and then they
inspire another person, and it continues," says Morrissey. "This
team, the Parkinson's community, my family and friends inspired me
to endure. We're all one big team."
Watch Team HPP's live-streamed historic finish of The World's
Toughest Row here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpgP0XKQf8k&t=185s
About The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research
(MJFF)
As the world's largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson's research,
The Michael J. Fox Foundation is dedicated to accelerating a cure
for Parkinson's disease and improved therapies for those living
with the condition today. The Foundation pursues its goals through
an aggressively funded, highly targeted research program coupled
with active global engagement of scientists, Parkinson's patients,
business leaders, clinical trial participants, donors and
volunteers. In addition to funding $2
billion in research to date, the Foundation has
fundamentally altered the trajectory of progress toward a cure.
Operating at the hub of worldwide Parkinson's research, the
Foundation forges groundbreaking collaborations with industry
leaders, academic scientists and government research funders;
creates a robust open- access data set and biosample library to
speed scientific breakthroughs and treatment with its landmark
clinical study, PPMI; increases the flow of participants into
Parkinson's disease clinical trials with its online tool, Fox Trial
Finder; promotes Parkinson's awareness through high-profile
advocacy, events and outreach; and coordinates the grassroots
involvement of thousands of Team Fox members around the world. For
more information, visit us
at www.michaeljfox.org, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn.
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SOURCE The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's
Research