Brookfield Biz Joins With Danbury Hat Tricks To Raise Money

BROOKFIELD, CT– Brookfield-based family business, CULTEC, Inc., is partnering with FPHL hockey team, Danbury Hat Tricks, to raise money for research of Vanishing White Matter (VWM) Disease, an extremely rare degenerative brain disease. A portion of the ticket sales for an upcoming Danbury Hat Tricks hockey game will be donated to the VWM Families Foundation to fund medical research into this crippling disease.

The upcoming event supports the VWM Families Foundation and 9-year-old Sam Buck of Greenwich. Sam is one of only approximately 250 known cases worldwide that suffer from the disease. Buck was diagnosed at 2-years-old with VWM, a rare condition that destroys myelin, the brain’s white matter. In doing so, it permanently affects transmission of brain signals to the rest of the body. Few sufferers survive more than 5-10 years after onset. Currently, there is no known cure for VWM.

While every patient is different, as the disease progresses, sufferers can expect some or all or the following symptoms: loss of motor skills (walking usually goes first, followed by ability to sit unassisted, speech, use of hands, head control and ability to swallow), loss of vision, epileptic seizures, vomiting, irritability, and comas.

The fundraiser/hockey game will take place at the Danbury Ice Arena located at 1 Independence Way in Danbury on Feb. 21 at 7 p.m., and is against the Columbus River Dragons. Tickets are $14 for adults and $10 for children 12 and younger, and are available by contacting Colleen Luby of CULTEC at cluby@cultec.com, or calling 203-775-4416. If you cannot make the event, but would like to donate, please visit www.vwmff.org/donate.

Danbury Hat Tricks Director of Communications, Casey Bryant has been assisting CULTEC in coordinating the fundraising event. "We’re very much looking forward to organizing a great night with CULTEC and the VWM Families Foundation. We always look to give back to our community, and we want to contribute however we can to the search for a cure to this terrible disease."

"We are excited and grateful to have the support of CULTEC," said Sam's mother, Allyson Buck. "Our lives changed forever on April 4, 2013, when Sam was diagnosed with this disease. It means the world to us to have the support of CULTEC and so many others. Hopefully their support of research will help save lives."