FightSMA
For 25 years, the nonprofit FightSMA, founded by Joe and Martha Slay, raised millions to defeat spinal muscular atrophy, the number-one inherited cause of infant death. The group funded SMA research at 45 universities in five countries, recruiting some of the best minds in science to the fight. After a multi-year effort, FightSMA won passage of the National Pediatric Research Network Act, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2013. In 2016, FightSMA saw its labor and that of other SMA organizations and families rewarded with the approval by the FDA of the first-ever drug for the treatment of SMA. And in that 25th year, Joe and Martha retired from the fight, and FightSMA closed its doors.