David Hain, 12, of Boca Raton, Florida announced to friends and family he will work to raise funds for The Cure Alliance as part of his year-long community service to commemorate becoming a bar mitzvah.

David is a seventh grade gifted student in Loggers’ Run Middle School’s Medical Academy in Boca Raton, Florida. “I am absolutely fascinated with their work with stem cell research. I believe the research sponsored by The Cure Alliance will cure diseases and completely change the world of medicine,” he said.

The Cure Alliance is a 501 (C)(3) non-profit organization of global scientists sharing knowledge to end human suffering and accelerate cures for all diseases. At the start of the Pandemic of 2020, a group of 16 scientists from a variety of disciplines pivoted to work together 24/7 on treatments for the most severe cases of COVID-19.

Results of the successful FDA-authorized clinical trial, launched with Cure Alliance funding, were recently published in Stem Cell Translational Medicine. It showed umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) worked like “smart bomb technology” to the lung to repair damage caused by the deadly virus, saving lives and shortening the duration of the illness.

The science behind the peer-reviewed study has led the researchers to believe UC-MSCs could have a game-changing benefit beyond COVID-19 lung repair. Dr. Camillo Ricordi, the Director of the Diabetes Research Institute in Miami and the study’s lead investigator, said, “The majority of the (randomized) patients we saved had diabetes. What we have done for COVID-19 will help tremendously also on the path to a cure of T1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases.”

David Hain was diagnosed with T1 diabetes at age three. He has two sisters; the youngest also has T-diabetes.

As fundraiser for The Cure Alliance, David will become a book ambassador for “Scruffy: Our Loyal Pandemic Pooches and the Good, the Bad, and the Crazy Haircuts We Gave Them,” a photo/art book created and sold around the world, with 100% of the profits going directly to expanded research.

David has his own link on The Cure Alliance website: www.thecurealliance.org/davidsbarmitzvah. With each tax deductible donation, David will send a package containing the “Scruffy” book with a special gift.

His parents, Joey and Samantha Hain of Boca Raton, Florida, have set David’s fundraising goal at $7500, saying he never ceases to amaze them. “We are proud of his selflessness and empathy for all those struggling with a chronic or incurable disease,” they added.