ABOUT US

Milestones for Children was founded in 2008 by the family and friends of Robert Christopher Allen (Bobby) in partnership with the Colleen Giblin Foundation. Bobby Allen is an extraordinary six year old boy who has Glut1 DS. He is adored by his family, friends, school mates and community. He brings true hope and pure happiness everywhere he is. He inspired us to start Milestones for Children so that we could help all children with Glut1 DS maximize their potentials, like Bobby does every day.

How MFC was born
In 1985, after losing their four year old daughter to an inoperable brain tumor, Paul and Vickie Giblin founded the Colleen Giblin Foundation (CGF) in her memory. The CGF established the Colleen Giblin Research Laboratories for Pediatric Neurology under Dr. Darryl DeVivo at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. For more than twenty years, the CGF and the laboratories have supported children's neurological and cancer research. In addition to Glut1 DS, they research other serious pediatric neurological diseases and disorders, including spinal muscular atrophy, mitochondrial disease, novel chemotherapeutic agents for brain tumors, newborn neuromuscular disease, Duschenne muscular dystrophy, and carnitine deficiency syndrome. Their work has saved and improved the lives of countless children, including Bobby Allen.

In 2003 as an infant, Bobby was diagnosed with Glut1 DS. This life-altering early diagnosis was possible because of the efforts of the CGF and Dr. DeVivo, who discovered the Glut1 DS syndrome in 1991 and undertook to find a way to diagnose and someday cure it. Shortly thereafter, Bobby's family and friends joined the Colleen Giblin Foundation's mission to support finding a cure for Glut1 DS

In addition to funds raised by the CGF, the primary support for the Glut1 DS research effort was a grant from the National Institute of Health (NIH). In 2008, the NIH notified the Colleen Giblin Laboratories that it would not continue funding the Glut1 DS research. This created an immediate funding deficit as well as a threat to the future of this important life-altering research. This research is vital to diagnosing children with Glut1 DS as well as finding a cure for the disorder. There are no other laboratories in the country or the world currently capable of helping definitively diagnose Glut1 DS. Unless the Glut1 DS research continues, a cure will not be attainable and innumerable future children may not be diagnosed in time to help them.

In 2008, to celebrate Bobby turning five, to honor all the people who have supported him, and in response to the funding crisis for Glut1 DS, we established Milestones for Children, which is affiliated with and part of the Colleen Giblin Foundation. In so doing, we brought the important Glut1 DS mission of the CGF home to the Boston area. Milestones for Children will specifically support the Glut1 DS research initiatives until a cure is realized. We are determined to fund the research efforts that will allow for miraculous outcomes for all children with Glut1 DS. When we help solve Glut1 DS we will then move on to another grave pediatric disease that perhaps has been overlooked or abandoned by other sources of funding.