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[VIDEO] Olivia Viroslav: 'Every One of Your Children Has a Good Future'

Olivia Viroslav shares the challenges of having PWS while giving parents hope for the future in her keynote speech at the FPWR national conference in 2015.

Olivia Viroslav graduated from Alamo Heights High School in San Antonio, TX in the top third of her class with an A average for all 4 years. She was also on the A/B Honor Roll every semester. While in high school, she was very involved with her youth group at Temple Beth-EI and served as Vice President of Service and Vice President of Ritual and Observance.

She was presented as a Symphony Belle her senior year. She also participated in choir and Interact Club. She has attended Wellspring Camp for 4 years and was selected to serve as a mentor the past two years. She was also selected as a group leader for the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards. At 18, Olivia began her college career at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, majoring in Rehabilitative Science. She hopes to be a physical therapist in the future.

Click below to watch part of Olivia's keynote speech at the 2015 FPWR Research Conference: It Starts with Us.



Do you have a story of hope to share with others about your experiences with PWS? Send it to us!

Understanding PWS - Slide Deck

Topics: Stories of Hope

Susan Hedstrom

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Susan Hedstrom is the Executive Director for the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research. Passionate about finding treatments for PWS, Susan joined FPWR in 2009 shortly after her son, Jayden, was diagnosed with Prader-Willi Syndrome. Rather than accepting PWS as it has been defined, Susan has chosen to work with a team of pro-active and tireless individuals to accelerate PWS research in order to change the future of PWS. Inspired by her first FPWR conference and the team of researchers that were working to find answers for the syndrome, she joined the FPWR team in 2010 and led the development of the One SMALL Step walk program. Under Susan’s leadership, over $15 million has been raised for PWS related research.