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Our Story

In July, 2010 the first fundraising group for RDH12 was established in the U.S. when four families met at a LCA conference in Philadelphia, PA. They immediately bonded over the one thing they all had in common—a young child with LCA caused by a mutation in the same gene, RDH12. The conference was both an exhilarating and frustrating experience for all of them. What had looked like an assured future of blindness for their children suddenly didn’t look so certain. They saw reports of new therapies being made available to some LCA patients that were changing their lives and giving them their vision back. Although this work showed what could be done for LCA, none of these treatments focused on the RDH12 gene which was so rare that no work was being done, nor was there any future plans to do so. It was at this time that they decided that they were not going to patiently wait in line for the research to turn it’s attention and funding to RDH12. They were going to try to make sure that a cure would come before their sight was gone. This is when the RDH12 Fund for Sight was born.

Leadership & Board Members

Jennifer Pletcher, President
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Michelle Olsen, Vice President
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Ginny Pryor, Treasurer
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Spenta Hormozdyaran, Secretary
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Theresa Cole, Board Member
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Mike Fiore, Board Member
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Allison Galloway, Board Member
Allison is the mother of two children with LCA 13 (Logan and Zoe).  She is located in Colorado and is a Nurse Practitioner and is Mastered Prepared in Nutrition. This year will be the 9th Annual Eye Love Logan and Zoe 5k and Silent Auction, which is a fundraiser she organizes to raise money for RDH12 in Westminster, CO. 

Lori Kinney, Board Member
In 1992, I earned an Associate degree in Executive Secretarial Science and for 7 years I worked as a secretary for a law firm, a steel mill, and a water bottle company.  In 1997 I married my husband Keith and raised 3 children all while pursuing by Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education from Franciscan University of Steubenville in 2006. I have been working as a substitute teacher for the last 18 years. My children are David who graduated in 2021 from West Virginia University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering and works in Columbus, Ohio. Andrew graduated in 2023 from West Virginia University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering and now works in Jacksonville, NC. Abigail has been diagnosed with RDH12 will be a junior at Kent State University majoring in Journalism and Public Relations. In 2007, at the age of 3, Abigail was diagnosed with LCA with the RDH12 gene mutation. After extensive research on this diagnosis, it led me to others with the same condition. In 2010, we formed the RDH12 Fund for Sight where I began serving on the board.

Mathew Pletcher, Board Member
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Our Organizations

Eyes on the Future logo
Candle in the Dark logo
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