FBR Media Nominated for 2012 Emmy® Award

FBR Media's heartfelt television show about two children living with a rare and fatal genetic disease, called Niemann-Pick Type C, nominated for Emmy® Award

WASHINGTON, May 1, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- FBR Media announced today its television show "SurvivorTales: Niemann-Pick Type C" is nominated for a 2012 Emmy® Award in the documentary category of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' Lower Great Lakes Chapter competition.  "SurvivorTales: Niemann-Pick Type C" is a 28-minute television show that chronicles the story of the Smith family of West Lafayette, Indiana.  The Smiths have four children, three of whom were born with Niemann-Pick Type C (NP-C). 

"FBR Media is extremely honored to receive an Emmy nomination for our documentary on this devastating disease, for which there is currently no cure," said FBR Media executive vice president Paul McKellips. "This Emmy nomination honors the Smith family and the scientists, biomedical researchers and physicians, who have dedicated their lives to developing treatments and, ultimately a cure, for children living with Niemann-Pick Type C."

NP-C is a fatal, genetic neuro-degenerative disorder that causes a child's nervous system to progressively shut down. As the disease worsens, children lose the ability to walk and sit up, talk and swallow food, often requiring feeding tubes. Children usually die from complications of the disease before reaching adulthood. Sadly, there is no approved treatment for NP-C. But biomedical research scientists and students at the University of Notre Dame have become the "Fighting Irish" for this orphan disease as well.  Dr. Kasturi Haldar of Notre Dame, Dr. Forbes Porter of the National Institutes of Health and Cindy Parseghian, the daughter-in-law of legendary Notre Dame football coach Ara Parseghian and the president of the Ara Parseghian Medical Research Foundation, have joined forces to ultimately find a cure for children living with NP-C.  And with new experimental treatments being developed in the labs right now, the Smiths are not giving up hope that a miracle could save their children and others living with NP-C.

"SurvivorTales: Niemann-Pick Type C" was filmed at the University of Notre Dame, in partnership with the Ara Parseghian Medical Research Foundation. The program aired in August 2011 on WNDU-TV and WTHR-TV.  The Lower Great Lakes Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences will announce the winners at the 43rd Annual Emmy Awards ceremony on June 2, 2012, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Paul McKellips, director of "SurvivorTales: Niemann-Pick Type C" and creator of the Bench2Bedside TV series, is a veteran of the motion picture and television industry.  Frankie Trull is executive producer, Cindy Parseghian and Liz Hodge are producers and B. Rain Bennett is the director of photography for the documentary. "SurvivorTales: Niemann-Pick Type C" is the second episode in FBR Media's biomedical television series Bench2Bedside.

FBR Media is an award-winning production studio that creates striking digital content across multiple platforms. Its latest TV series, Bench2Bedside, tells inspirational true stories about people and animals living with serious illnesses and the incredible biomedical research that could save their lives. FBR Media is a registered trademark of the Foundation for Biomedical Research. For more information visit: vimeo.com/fbrmedia.

SOURCE FBR Media