KMPH Fox 26 Central San Joaquin Valley News Source in Fresno, California Entertainment, News, Sports and Weather | Feeding a Cause

Feeding a Cause

By: Ashley Ritchie

At a Panda Express in Clovis, dinner is being served.

But with every mouth fed, David Proud is closer to a cure.

"Oh it's great. This is fantastic and Panda's been really fantastic," Proud said.

Proud is believed to be the only person in the Valley positively diagnosed with the vascular form of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a life-threatening genetic disorder that breaks down his body tissue and dramatically changed his life.

"I was an avid cyclist. I loved to backpack, do physical exerting types of exercise. And I can't do those things anymore without that risk," Proud said.

But on this night, Proud is not thinking of himself.

"I never wanted this to be about me. It's not about me," he said.

He and his wife Deanna are thinking about others.

"About 80 to 90 percent of the people that have it out there actually are misdiagnosed or undiagnosed. We know there are more people in this area that have it that may not even know they have it," Deanna Proud said.

It's a local partnership that could have global implications.

The Panda Express on Herndon and Fowler agreed to donate 20% of Wednesday night's proceeds to a nation-wide movement researching a treatment for EDS.

"It's not the easiest times. So we all have to get together and help each other to get through," Kong Yang, Manager at Panda Express, said.

For those who turned out, it's a meal that means so much more.

"I just think it's important to raise awareness about a disease that not a lot of people know about," Katrina Ashmore said.

And for the Proud family, who has already lost five people to the disease, the hope for a cure mounts with every plate filled.

"I would make sure to tell him before I left for work every single morning goodbye, I love you, because I didn't know if that would be the last time I would see him or not," Deanna Proud said.

"It would be nice if there was some way to, some way of a cure," David Proud said.

So they eat and they hope that this one night and this one restaurant can be the catalyst for a change.

As of now, there is no cure and no treatment for EDS.

$75,000 needs to be raised for the new research to be done at Johns Hopkins.

So far, they've raised $28,000.

The Proud's say they already have more fundraising events planned for the future.