Buffalo Grove women to donate
contest win of $50,000 to charity
Posted Friday, June 02, 2006
It’s not every day that you get a check for $25,000. Even more unusual — your mother gets one, too.
But Ilyce Randell of Buffalo Grove and her mother, Peggy Shapiro-Nyeholt of Des Plaines, won’t be keeping the money. Both checks will leave their hands in the time it takes to redeposit them into the account of a nonprofit organization.
The final destination for the $50,000 will be the researcher for the Canavan Research Illinois, Dr. Paola Leone, who is conducting neurological research at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Cooper University Hospital, in New Jersey.
Randell was the winner of Diet Rite’s search for the “Zero Boundaries Woman” — one who “lets nothing stand in her way.”
Shapiro-Nyeholt nominated her daughter for the prize, citing Randell’s devotion to raising money and awareness to find a cure for Canavan Disease. Canavan is a neuro-degenerative disorder that leaves victims like Randell’s 8-year-old son, Max, fighting for their lives.
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Diet Rite brand manager Charlotte Dimery speculates that their eagerness to donate both checks to their charity went a long way with voters.
Randell, meanwhile, says the funds mean she can stop to take a breath.
“We might be able to shave a year off our research, fund a new project and/or add a new researcher,” she added.
Leone is as excited as Randell and her mother.
“It’s very uplifting and rewarding to know there are people who recognize the heroic life-example that is Ilyce,” the doctor said.
“This money also will help me with my work with neuro-cells isolated from adult organs. The money can also be used in a related trial to help people with MS, multiple sclerosis, currently under way in Italy.”
For further information, go to www.canavanresearch.org.