TEXT AS PUBLISHED IN PORTFOLIO MAGAZINE SOTHEBY’S
We are thankful to Sotheby’s International Realty team for publishing this article.
“Very little is done in Canada for the DMD and parents are sent back home with no hope when it is no longer the case. On the long term, La Force is to become a guiding light for patients with DMD”
La Force was created following the diagnostic of Anakin Lacasse (son MC president Foundation). Muscular Dystrophy is a terrible genetic disease, it is fatal, with no cure and lead to premature death (about 20 years old). Looking at your kid slowly dying, is the worst for parents, family and friends. La Force was positive that resides in our decision to become actors rather than spectators in this terrible tragedy. Very little is done in Canada for DMD, Parents are most often faced with the sole option of having to prepare for early death when this is no longer the case. New and emerging technology provides hope but it’s practically inaccessible, mainly due to the disease’s lack of notoriety. People would like to help but most don’t know about the challenges associated with rare disease treatment accessibility and don’t know how they can help. Furthermore, without strategic and leveraged effort, individuals’ voices are ineffective. Those who want to help need to do so in unison and in a highly focused way to bring about change.
«Strength in Unity»
Our long-term goal is to become the leading representative group for patients with DMD in Canada. Our mission is to make DMD treatment available immediately to kids in need. Our approach is first and foremost to raise consumer and political awareness by way of information campaigns. We use grassroots sporting events, social media leverage, representations and high-level contacts to achieve our goal. We are also participating in the funding of promising research we have to dedicated funds one for Dr. Rudniki and one for Dr. Jérôme Frenette.
«La Force: powered by the community»
The effort of team 1 VIE-Tess combine with the right use of web marketing had a huge impact this year for La Force. Our online video had over 80,000 views, we had extensive local media coverage and a segment on RDS TV show…
All this media visibility gave us the right tools to have access to a new treatment not approved in Canada. The rise of the community in Mont-Tremblant has been simply amazing, last year people in the community (not only close friends) organize spontaneously fundraising events of all kinds. La Force has been powered, by pure compassion and every sporting event and every single person wearing our t-shirt have built a movement and made us believe we can make a difference in the race to a cure.
