I've partnered with Haley’s Heroes Foundation to bring awareness of Batten disease to the general public.

Rare. Incurable. Fatal.

Three words no parent wants to hear when their child is diagnosed with Batten disease.

Starting with blindness, this brain disease also causes muscle weakness until the child is on a feeding tube and in a wheelchair. All of this is the precursor to dementia which is the final symptom before death. From beginning to end, the disease progresses quickly. Ten years is the average life expectancy.

Unless a cure can be found.

As you can imagine, families all over the world are desperate to find a cure before it's too late for their children.

Because of this urgency, I've worked with the Pollman family while writing The Rift In Our Reality. I first approached Melissa with the idea of writing a story about a young woman stricken with Batten disease and her journey to romance. She was thrilled to have the opportunity to work on this project and bring more attention to this disease.

While this is a fictional, clean, young adult romance story, the characters are based off of real people, real symptoms, and real emotions.

Half of the proceeds from this book, in any format, will be donated to the Haley's Heroes Foundation to help fund the research for the cure to this horrible, genetic brain disease.

Meet Haley's Family