Notre Dame celebrated Rare Disease Day on February 29th by illuminating the Hesburgh Library's Word of Life Mural as part of their campus-wide event, "LightUpForRare," attended by the Rare Disease Club. 

We are happy to highlight their efforts to bring awareness to rare diseases and send our congratulations to all on another successful event!

Upcoming events of the organization have been looking forward to attaining our purpose and goal. On May 27th we are having our “Glow Detectives Seminar: Understanding the Glow for Visual and Ocular Wellness” to be held at the Helix Auditorium of Manila Central University. 

After our Glow Detectives seminar, a joint collaboration of the KTG and SVOSH – MCU Chapter for the “Eye Volunteer” seminar will take place on the same date and venue of our Glow Detectives seminar. This will be a hybrid seminar as we are going to invite students from Nicaragua and Jairo Mercado as one of our speakers. We will be sending our formal invite to Megan to be one of our speakers to talk about Know the Glow to inspire our students about the advocacy of Know the Glow. See full activities list of the MCU student chapter below.

Announcing our newest international student chapter! KnowTheGlow is delighted to announce the St. Andrew’s College of Nursing (SACON) KTG Chapter in Pune, India! SACON is our first Nursing Student chapter! Special thanks to Larry Wagh, our India Ambassador, for bringing us together! We also thank Jen Vinola, our MCU Chapter Faculty Advisor, who is working with her students in the Philippines to be an example and help guide the SACON chapter as they begin their program in India! Read more about the students and see the link to their student facebook page.

The results from our awareness campaign in Nigeria are in! 

Thank you for sharing our posts far and wide. Reaching more than 6 million people in Nigeria with nearly 24 million impressions! WOW! This achievement represents a milestone in campaign outreach, and we are confident that it will result in the preservation of vision for numerous children across the nation in the years to come.

After our successes in Nigeria, Tanzania, and Kenya we've crossed the ocean to begin our awareness campaign in Brazil! With amazing team member physicians including Dr. Luis Teixeira and Dr. Viviane Lanzelotte, we know it will be another tremendous campaign! Preview the campaign below.

Through this year’s collaboration with KnowTheGlow, Tiago Leifert and Team Brazil have partnered with KTG creating images and messaging that are co-branded with the “De olho nos olhinhos” logo and which are already reaching the national audience of Brazil with messages in English and Portuguese.

Korea and Switzerland: We look forward to sending updates soon on these campaigns!  Our Korean campaign has been spearheaded by three ND volunteers of Korean descent working and translating materials in advance of the campaign!

Aduduh’s journey reflects not only the personal anguish of living with a preventable eye condition but also the systemic challenges and misconceptions that permeate communities like his own.

Tiago shared the story of his daughter Lua’s battle with this rare eye cancer and their ever increasing efforts to spread awareness.

I never even picked up on the Glow until after she was diagnosed and I went back to look through pictures. It’s so important to look at your flash photos and to know about this to save children’s lives!

At Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital in Nigeria, Dr. Ibrahim and Dr. Abdullahi exemplify unwavering dedication in delivering specialized care. Dr. Ibrahim specializes in pediatric ophthalmology, where she skillfully treats cases of Retinoblastoma, while Dr. Abdullahi expertly manages cases involving glaucoma and Retinoblastoma.

In the pursuit of eliminating preventable blindness in children, the resounding theme of collaboration emerges as the most promising path toward success. Dr. Linda Lawrence and Dr. Ian Murdoch stand as beacons of hope, demonstrating the transformative power of collective action in pediatric ophthalmology.

Dr. Okechukwu Udeala and Dr. Otih Gabriel.C. visited Nne Enyemaka Parish Umuaka, Njaba Local Government Area, Imo State, Nigeria. They were received by the Reverend Father in-charge, where they stated the reason for their visit: "Know The Glow Awareness Campaign in Nigeria."

KTG is excited to announce the wonderful addition of adult RB survivor, Carla Soto Vargas, who is leading the charge for awareness in Chile on behalf of KTG! Watch for updates on the families and other doctors and NGOs she’s already introducing us to there!

We are delighted to announce that Helene Dameris, Director of Global Outreach for KnowTheGlow, will be attending the upcoming combined conference of the 1st Ocular Oncology Symposium and the 10th Annual European Retinoblastoma Meeting Group. Scheduled to take place from May 30th to June 1st, 2024, in Athens, Greece, this conference promises to be an exceptional gathering of distinguished worldwide Ocular Oncologists specialists. Helene's presence underscores KnowTheGlow's commitment to advancing research and collaboration within the ocular oncology community. We look forward to her contributions and the enriching discussions that will undoubtedly unfold at this prestigious conference in the vibrant city of Athens.

Megan Webber, Helene Dameris and our new partnership liaison, Caitlin Villante, are looking forward to attending the IAPB conference in Mexico City this June!  At the conference we hope to meet with other IAPB members from around the world to discuss issues surrounding awareness of blinding conditions and how we can work together to reach rural communities.

KTG is honored to have Sandra Staffieri representing KTG at the Kuala Lumpur WSPOS Conference in July! She will be presenting on how digital technology is enhancing awareness and early diagnosis of childhood eye disease.

A special shoutout to Marissa Gonzales and Abby White from We C Hope as they work to provide ArcLight Scopes to five countries within Sub-Saharan Africa. KTG is honored to work alongside We C Hope and ArcLight to find innovative ways to support the doctors and communities in Africa. Moved by the presentation in Mombasa given by Dr. Andrew Blaikie, Marissa personally committed to providing Arclights to five nations and they are now arriving. Nigeria and Uganda have Arclights in hand and more will be arriving soon!  We will look forward to sharing more about how this unique collaboration will lead to saved sight globally!