How It All Began
In 2020, Dan and Paula Florczykowski started Finns Friends in response to their son Finn’s devastating diagnosis of a rare and fatal muscle disease, Duchenne muscular dystrophy. After traveling the country visiting doctors, attending events, and talking to families in the community, they quickly saw the overwhelming cost and difficulty of providing care for boys affected by this debilitating disease.
Since then, Finns Friends has created multiple fundraisers to raise awareness and funds to advance their mission and vision of providing direct family assistance as well as funding multi-disciplinary Duchenne specialty clinics.
After joining forces with other nonprofits, their collective efforts resulted in families being provided with accessible vans, wheelchairs, home modifications, service dogs, and transportation needs.
Furthermore, other collaborative partnerships have created a $1.2 million annual commitment to sustain and grow The Duchenne Program at UMass Medical School. Finn's Friends portion over a five-year period totals $175,000. The Duchenne Program is a clinical and research site devoted exclusively to extending and enhancing the lives of people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
The hope of Finns Friends is that we will have the ability to help families nationwide with the overwhelming costs of raising a child with Duchenne. We've only just begun!
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