Enteroviruses annually impact an estimated 30-50 million people – both children and adults – with hundreds of thousands either hospitalized, left permanently injured or having lost their life as a result of the destructive nature of this virus family.  Medical professionals often misdiagnosis enterovirus conditions because of the wide variety of enterovirus types, from the common cold to heart disease to meningitis and even type 1 diabetes. At the Enterovirus Foundation, we are shining the light on enterovirus by raising the awareness, providing hope and support to families and individuals suffering with this life-threatening disease. Take the first step here to know the impact of enterovirus for yourself and those you love.

 

Educate Yourself

Given the nature of this virus, self education plays a critical role in helping you know the early signs and symptoms to look for and the various pathways enterovirus takes when infected.  Here, you learn more on what to look for and how to protect yourself and others.  By working together, we can help prevent and protect from the virus while the research and medical community continue to look for a future cure.

Their Stories

We believe one of the greatest gifts we can give to another person is the compassion and learning that occurs when we share our personal enterovirus journey with others.  Here, meet a few who are sharing their personal or family members battle with enterovirus.  Some end with survivorship.  Some do not.  All will change you. All are important in our fight for awareness, prevention, research and treatment.

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Meet Dontae
Meet Dontae

On Sunday, August 20, 2017, Dontae came down with a fever. We thought it was from teething because his back molars were coming in. We gave him some Motrin and he went to bed. Monday morning, Don (his dad) calls me and says he threw up everywhere. First thing I said was, that is not a fever. I took him to the doctor that evening and the doctor said he had Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease.

Meet Spencer
Meet Spencer

Hello, I would like to share my story. It all started with me being 39 weeks pregnant and I had what I thought was the flu. Fever, chills, general not feeling well. I went into my midwife appointment and had high blood pressure so was sent to the hospital to be induced.

Meet Bethany
Meet Bethany

Hello, we are Luke and Jaqui and would like to share our story of our sweet daughter Bethany who we lost in just hours after her battle with enterovirus.  And having to tell her big sister was like reliving her death again.

Meet Bailey
Meet Bailey

I want to share the story of my daughter Bailey. On September 27th , 2014, I received a phone call while I was working that my daughter’s right leg was not functioning the way it should be. She kept falling as if her leg was asleep. I left work to take her to the emergency room, thinking her leg was broken or sprained. The x-rays at the E.R. showed everything looked fine. They sent us home with a diagnosis of possible right hip inflammation and orders to give ibuprofen around the clock.

Protect Your Family

Educating yourself about Enterovirus is the first step in understanding how to protect yourself and others from this disease.  Adults infected with Enterovirus display different symptoms and risk levels than children and teens infected, but all can protect against the virus and minimize the spread of the disease if simple precautions are taken.  Here’s how to protect yourself and family. 

 

Community – Supporting Our Mission

To build the team behind our EVF Foundation, diversity was important to appropriately represent all those impacted or involved with enterovirus.  So we selected members who would represent the whole view of enterovirus and selected survivors, researchers, physicians and healthcare advocates to join. 

And we are honored by each of them and the passion and conviction they bring to our work to fight enterovirus.

 

 

Ways To Support – Get Involved

Although there is no known cure for enterovirus, participating here to help fund awareness and research efforts is key to discovering breakthroughs that will lead to the development of better diagnostic tests, treatments and ultimately help for other sufferers. 

Take action now to join us in shining light, finding hope in enterovirus.