The precious soul of Rebecca Elizabeth Van Schoick left its earthly home on May 21, 2016, after a lifelong battle with Friedreich’s ataxia. Rebecca was born in Houston, Texas on August 20, 1982. Her early years were spent in Texas, New Jersey, Tennessee, and France. She graduated valedictorian from Grace Community School, Tyler, Texas in 2001 and from the University of Notre Dame in 2005. Becca met challenges with fierce determination and had goals that often seemed impossible to those around her. She loved her dog Kringle, the beauty and meaning of Nature, and her family and friends. She was a fan of the Fighting Irish and considered her 4 years at Norte Dame the best of her life.
Becca’s Family has established The Van Schoick Family Fund in her honor to support research travel as well as FARA Ambassador travel in the following ways-
- Travel support to patients to facilitate participation in clinical studies. Often times, patients travel a great distance to the centers conducting these studies, which can be cost prohibitive.
- Travel support to young investigators to attend conferences. One conference where this has been really successful is the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia FA symposium. At the symposium, young investigators present their work, meet patients, and meet other FA investigators.
- Travel support to offset the cost of travel for ambassadors to participate in training. FARA hosts an annual Ambassador training meeting for volunteers in the Ambassador Program. This year’s meeting will focus on research training. This is particularly important as academic labs and pharmaceutical companies include the patient voice earlier and earlier in the research process.
The resources provided by The Van Schoick Family Fund will help connect people to research, information and promote collaboration and partnership. If you would like to contribute to this ongoing effort, please visit our Online Donation page and note in the tribute that the gift is in memory of Becca or send a check to FARA 533 Uwchlan Ave Downingtown, PA 19335.