LONGMONT, Colo. -- Imagine giving birth to a perfectly healthy baby and then watching your child’s health slowly deteriorate over the years with no cure in sight.
That’s the story of Longmont mother Julia Vitarello.
Vitarello told Denver7 her daughter was perfectly healthy, but her health slowly begin to decline when she was around 3-years-old. Vitarello noticed her daughter had difficulty walking. Then, two years later, her daughter started having trouble reading and speaking.
Doctors were clueless as to what was happening to her daughter up until she turned 6-years-old, when they told Vitarello her daughter had Batten disease.
“There is currently no cure for that disease, it's really devastating, degenerative disease,” said Julia Vitarello.
Vtiarello said she is hoping to raise as much money as she can for a clinical trial because life expectancy with Batten disease is short. Her daughter, Mila, might not live to be 10-years-old.
“It’s heartbreaking to tell a 6-year-old that's it's OK that she can't see and I’m only telling her part of the picture,” said Vitarello.
In an effort to find a cure, Vitarello started a fundraising page to help raise money for research and the clinical trial to help save her daughter.
"There are clinical trials going on in the world and some of these trials have significantly slowed down the degeneration,” said Vitarello.
To read more on Mila's condition and help donate please click on this link.
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