Bay Village's Team Dori helps raise over $90,000 for UMDF

Bay Village first grader Dori Szelesta (center behind banner, in pink hoodie) and Team Dori pause for a team picture at the end of the one-mile walk at the UMDF Wild For a Cure Walkathon at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo on May 8.

With every event and fundraiser, Bay Village’s Team Dori hopes they get one step closer to a cure for mitochondrial disease.

Named for and inspired by Dori Szelesta, a first grader at Normandy School in Bay Village who has mitochondrial disease, Team Dori recently joined her on a one-mile walk at the Wild For a Cure Walkathon for the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation (UMDF) on Saturday, May 8, at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.

In addition to providing love and support for a brave little girl, they helped Wild For a Cure Walkathon raise over $90,000 for UMDF and boost awareness about the frequently misunderstood and misdiagnosed disease.

Comprised of her family, friends, classmates and teachers, Team Dori is organized by Dori’s mother, Jennifer Szelesta, who is a teacher at Normandy. Also on the team are Sara Scarvelli, Dori’s first-grade teacher, and her school aide, Aggie Grisnik. In advance of the walkathon, the teaching staff at Normandy organized a special raffle during the school art show that raised $1,150 for Team Dori. 

Wild For a Cure Walkathon is the nation’s largest and most successful fundraiser for UMDF and has raised over $1.3 million since 2001 to fund research to discover a cure for the life-threatening illness, find better treatment options and provide much-needed programs for affected families. Dori Szelesta was diagnosed with mitochondrial disease as an infant – and every 30 minutes a child is born who will also be diagnosed with the disease.

What is mitochondrial disease? When the mitochondria (or “power plants”) inside a person’s living cells cannot convert food and oxygen into life-sustaining energy, the result is mitochondrial disease. The parts of the body that need the most energy – the brain, the heart, the muscles, and the lungs – are the most affected by mitochondrial disease. Many children with mitochondrial disease won’t live beyond their teenage years. For more information about mitochondrial disease or to make a donation to UMDF, visit www.wildforacurewalkathon.org.   

Tracey Bradnan lives in Bay Village.