MAGIC Foundation

Last updated

MAGIC Foundation
Formation1989
Type Nonprofit organization
Headquarters Oak Park, Illinois, United States
Chairman
Rich Buckley
Revenue (2015)
$911,170 [1]
Expenses (2015)$990,393 [1]
Website www.magicfoundation.org

The MAGIC Foundation (short for Major Aspects of Growth in Children [2] ) is an American non-profit organization which helps families of children diagnosed with a wide variety of different growth impacting medical conditions through education, networking, physician referrals and numerous other services. It was founded in 1989. [3] [4] It is maintained through a network of volunteers and a full-time staff of five people. Their services include public education and awareness, quarterly newsletters, national networking, an annual convention, disorder specific brochures, and a Kids Program. [5]

Contents

The foundation has a membership network in excess of 25,000 families. The disorders MAGIC families have are grouped into primary categories. They include: congenital adrenal hyperplasia, precocious puberty, growth hormone deficiency (both adults and children), panhypopituitarism, McCune–Albright syndrome, Turner syndrome, Russell–Silver syndrome, thyroid disorders (both congenital and acquired), optic nerve hypoplasia, and other rare disorders. [2]

Educational programs

MAGIC offers a national educational program every year for the families of affected children and another for affected adults. Physicians specialising in these disorders, from all over the world, volunteer to speak to and assist the children and affected adults. They also offer a weekly email with links to recently published medical information to parents of children impacted by Small for Gestational Age babies, Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, McCune-Albright Syndrome, Russell–Silver Syndrome (also known as Silver–Russell Syndrome), Optic Nerve Hypoplasia, Septo Optic Dysplasia, Hypophosphatasia, and others.

Controversy

The MAGIC Foundation received significant funding from Genentech and Eli Lilly. It was thought that the money was to undertake case finding of children with short stature who might benefit from their human growth hormone treatments. [6] The US Food and Drug Administration investigated Genentech in 1992 and 1994 for using numerous charities to improperly advertise this medication. None of the monies donated to either the Human Growth Foundation nor The Magic foundation were donated with any stipulations as to how the money was to be utilized. The donations were support funds for the patients affected. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Septo-optic dysplasia (SOD), known also as de Morsier syndrome, is a rare congenital malformation syndrome that features a combination of the underdevelopment of the optic nerve, pituitary gland dysfunction, and absence of the septum pellucidum . Two or more of these features need to be present for a clinical diagnosis—only 30% of patients have all three. French-Swiss doctor Georges de Morsier first recognized the relation of a rudimentary or absent septum pellucidum with hypoplasia of the optic nerves and chiasm in 1956.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congenital adrenal hyperplasia</span> Medical condition

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fibrous dysplasia of bone</span> Medical condition

Fibrous dysplasia is a very rare nonhereditary genetic disorder where normal bone and marrow is replaced with fibrous tissue, resulting in formation of bone that is weak and prone to expansion. As a result, most complications result from fracture, deformity, functional impairment, pain, and the impingement of nerves. Disease occurs along a broad clinical spectrum ranging from mostly asymptomatic incidental lesions, to severe disabling disease. Disease can affect one bone (monostotic), multiple (polyostotic), or all bones (panostotic) and may occur in isolation or in combination with café au lait skin macules and hyperfunctioning endocrinopathies, termed McCune–Albright syndrome. More rarely, fibrous dysplasia may be associated with intramuscular myxomas, termed Mazabraud's syndrome. Fibrous dysplasia is very rare, and there is no known cure. While fibrous dysplasia is not itself a form of cancer, in severe cases it may undergo a malignant transformation into cancers such as osteosarcoma or chondrosarcoma, so some clinicians may regard it as precancerous rather than benign.

Short stature refers to a height of a human which is below typical. Whether a person is considered short depends on the context. Because of the lack of preciseness, there is often disagreement about the degree of shortness that should be called short. Dwarfism is the condition of being very short, often caused by a medical condition. In a medical context, short stature is typically defined as an adult height that is more than two standard deviations below a population’s mean for age and sex, which corresponds to the shortest 2.3% of individuals in that population.

Hypoplasia is underdevelopment or incomplete development of a tissue or organ. Although the term is not always used precisely, it properly refers to an inadequate or below-normal number of cells. Hypoplasia is similar to aplasia, but less severe. It is technically not the opposite of hyperplasia. Hypoplasia is a congenital condition, while hyperplasia generally refers to excessive cell growth later in life.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">McCune–Albright syndrome</span> Mosaic genetic disorder affecting the bone, skin and endocrine systems

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Micromastia</span> Abnormally underdeveloped breasts

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Acrodysostosis is a rare congenital malformation syndrome which involves shortening of the interphalangeal joints of the hands and feet, intellectual disability in approximately 90% of affected children, and peculiar facies. Other common abnormalities include short head, small broad upturned nose with flat nasal bridge, protruding jaw, increased bone age, intrauterine growth retardation, juvenile arthritis and short stature. Further abnormalities of the skin, genitals, teeth, and skeleton may occur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">3C syndrome</span> Medical condition

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silver–Russell syndrome</span> Medical condition

Silver–Russell syndrome (SRS), also called Silver–Russell dwarfism, is a rare congenital growth disorder. In the United States it is usually referred to as Russell–Silver syndrome (RSS), and Silver–Russell syndrome elsewhere. It is one of 200 types of dwarfism and one of five types of primordial dwarfism.

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References

  1. 1 2 "MAGIC Foundation" (PDF). Foundation Center. 25 October 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
  2. 1 2 "MAGIC Foundation". MAGIC Foundation. Archived from the original on 21 March 2011. Retrieved 25 March 2011.
  3. NORD Guide. National Organization for Rare Disorders. 1997.
  4. Betty M. Adelson (2005). Dwarfism: medical and psychosocial aspects of profound short stature. JHU Press. pp. 197–. ISBN   978-0-8018-8121-3 . Retrieved 14 April 2010.
  5. "MAGIC Foundation". NORD (National Organization for Rare Disorders). Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  6. Melody Petersen (2009). Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs. Macmillan Publishers. ISBN   978-0-312-42825-9.
  7. Kathleen Day (16 August 1994). "Genentech, Nonprofit Link Studied; Agencies Probe Whether Foundation Helped Sales". The Washington Post . Washington, D.C. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012.