Austin Community Raises More Than $60,000 to Benefit CureDuchenne at Annual Ladies Luncheon  

The “Afternoon in Palm Beach” Themed Event Raised Funds and Awareness for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy  

AUSTIN, Texas (September 22, 2023) – Leading global nonprofit CureDuchenne held the annual Ladies Luncheon at the Austin Country Club, which raised more than $60,000 to help find a cure for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The Ladies Luncheon, started by Austin residents Tim and Laura Revell and hosted by Venus Strawn and Jennifer Stevens, brought some of the most influential women in Austin together to connect and raise funds and awareness for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.  

This year’s event invited guests to experience a luxurious “Afternoon in Palm Beach” complete with fine dining, inspiring speakers, raffles, networking opportunities, and a fall fashion show preview presented by Estilo. The event was emceed by local celebrity, Holly Mills-Gardner. Leslie Porter and her son Grant, who is 12 years old and has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, spoke about the challenges of living with the disease, their worries for the future, and what a cure would mean for them. 

Tim and Laura Revell learned their two sons Timothy and Andrew were diagnosed with Duchenne, the most common and severe form of muscular dystrophy, at just two and five years old. At the time of their boys’ diagnoses, treatments and information on Duchenne was limited. The Revells began to research the rare disease and connected with CureDuchenne for resources. Tim and Laura have created several annual fundraising events to raise awareness and funds for CureDuchenne, including marathons, galas and the annual Ladies Luncheon. To date, the family has helped raise more than $6.2 million through their collective fundraising efforts. 

“Each year, we are blown away at the support of our local community to help find a cure for this devastating disease affecting our two boys and thousands of other families,” said Laura Revell. “Tim and I are on a mission to help CureDuchenne raise awareness and funds for research because we have seen tremendous research progress being made, and we know that funding is more important than ever. We will not stop until there is a cure for everyone with Duchenne.” 

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a fatal genetic disease that affects roughly 1 in 5,000 male births. Individuals with Duchenne are typically diagnosed as toddlers, lose the ability to walk in their early-teens and often succumb to the disease in their mid-20s. Since CureDuchenne was founded in 2003, the organization has raised more than $50 million for research and funded 17 research projects that have advanced to human clinical trials. In addition, CureDuchenne develops impactful programs that help families living with Duchenne around the world. 

“We are forever grateful to the Revells and the generous Austin community for their unwavering devotion every year to raise awareness towards a cure for Duchenne,” said Debra Miller, Founder and CEO of CureDuchenne. “As we start to see significant milestones reached for the Duchenne community, we must continue to fund research so that we can bring transformative treatments to ALL individuals with this devastating disease. This is not the time to take our foot off the gas pedal. Funds raised at the Ladies Luncheon will get us closer to a cure.” 

Sponsors for this year’s event included Diptyque Paris and i3 Event Marketing. To learn more or donate to CureDuchenne, visit www.CureDuchenne.org.  

About CureDuchenne   
Twenty years ago, CureDuchenne was created with one goal: to find and fund a cure for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, one of the most common and severe forms of muscular dystrophy. Today, CureDuchenne is recognized as a global leader in research, patient care, and innovation for improving and extending the lives of those with Duchenne. CureDuchenne’s innovative venture philanthropy model has advanced transformative treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, including 17 projects that advanced to human clinical trials and multiple projects to overcome the limitations of exon-skipping and gene therapy. In addition, CureDuchenne contributed early funding to the first FDA-approved Duchenne drug, pioneered the first and only Duchenne physical and occupational therapist certification program and created an innovative biobank and data registry, accelerating research toward a cure. For more information on how to help raise awareness and funds needed for research, please visit cureduchenne.org. 

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