Six Wake Up Narcolepsy Runners Go The Extra Mile in Support of Narcolepsy Research

Harvard Neuroscientist joins international runners to raise awareness and research funds for narcolepsy

WORCESTER, Mass., April 3, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Six Wake Up Narcolepsy (WUN) supporters will run the Boston Marathon on April 16, 2012 to raise awareness and funds for cutting-edge narcolepsy research. Runners include a Harvard-affiliated neuroscientist, Nancy Chamberlin, who is a sleep expert and researcher.   A portion of funds raised will support the world-renowned Harvard-affiliated Narcolepsy Lab at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) led by Dr. Thomas Scammell.  Dr. Scammell's lab is currently exploring gene therapy as a possible innovative narcolepsy treatment in the future. 

WUN is a not-for-profit that has raised over $60,000 from running the Boston Marathon the past two years—the world's most elite and globally recognized champion of all long distance races.  One hundred percent of past marathon proceeds have gone directly to fund research at Dr. Scammell's lab and at Dr. Emmanuel Mignot's lab at Stanford's Center for Narcolepsy. This year alone the runners already have over $30,000 in donations from sponsors and hope to reach many more before the race.

"We are thrilled to have six marathoners running for narcolepsy awareness and research. WUN's research program supports world-renowned researchers at a time when funding sources are increasingly limited," explains WUN president Kevin Cosgrove, "In addition, WUN's awareness program targets primary care and sleep doctors to reduce the average six year delay in diagnosis."

Narcolepsy is a serious sleep disorder likely cause by an autoimmune process that affects an estimated 200,000 Americans. Advancing narcolepsy research informs our understanding of the sleep, dream and wakefulness cycle and may lead to breakthroughs in others areas such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism, addiction, insomnia and obesity.

Other runners include: Monica Gow, WUN co-Founder and mother of a child with narcolepsy from Worcester, MA; Tabitha Crawford, WUN board member and mother of a child with narcolepsy from Nashville, TN; John Leahy, uncle of a child with narcolepsy from Sandwich, MA; and Ken and Kim MacAskill, narcolepsy supporters from Ontario, Canada.

"I am running this marathon for my teenage son who suffers from narcolepsy-cataplexy," says WUN Co-Founder and three-time WUN marathoner Monica Gow, "Even though I will endure pain and tiredness during my training, I gain my motivation from my son's quiet determination to not let narcolepsy control him, but to learn how to control it."

To learn more and support WUN's 2012 Boston Marathon team, visit: http://www.WakeUpNarcolepsy.org.

About Wake Up Narcolepsy

Wake Up Narcolepsy is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to the awareness and research of Narcolepsy. The national organization hosts various awareness events including annual golf outings, Boston Marathon Running Teams and Wake Up Nashville concerts. WUN's efforts are supported, in part, by the generosity of Balfour Beatty Communities, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Picerne Military Housing and St. Thomas Health. For more information on Wake Up Narcolepsy, visit http://www.WakeUpNarcolepsy.org.

SOURCE Wake Up Narcolepsy