Good causes//timely story//creative business//Human Interest
Pulmonary Hypertension (PH) took her life at the tenant age of 3 ½, yet the memory of Emma Cusatis and her fight to cure PH lives on in each pair of shoes painted and sold by her mom Jane Perillo.
Snanimals was formed through Emma’s love of animals (and shoes!) and now helps to fight PH and find a cure by donating a percentage of sales to the Pulmonary Hypertension Association in Emma’s memory.
Emma was a fighter from birth. Born one of quadruplets, 14 weeks early and weighing a mere 13.5 ounces, Emma defied the 1% odds of living given by her doctors in the NICU.
Emma grew to be a smart and precocious toddler, reading at 2 ½ and commanding attention wherever she went. But at the age of 22 months, Emma became sick and was diagnosed with Pulmonary Hypertension, a progressive and incurable lung disease that causes heart failure.
Even with this new hurdle Emma thrived and blossomed. She loved reading and singing and held a special place in her heart for all animals, insects and even spiders! She had a pair of black shoes that she called her “zebra shoes” that she insisted wearing with her zebra pants as often as possible!
This gave her mom Jane and her caregiver Jenell an idea. They could make Emma some real zebra shoes to wear! From this love of animals grew Snanimals (sneaker animals!) They painted cows, monkeys, spiders and butterflies.
As they were deciding to make Snanimals a real company, tragedy happened. Emma passed away unexpectedly in her sleep on January 19, 2007. This horrible blow left her family in tears and with an unfillable hole in their hearts.
At first Jane and Jenell were unsure whether to continue with Snanimals but then they decided they must keep Emma’s memory alive and share her story. Emma was a remarkable, wonderful little girl who should not be forgotten. An agreement was reached with the Pulmonary Hypertension Association for Snanimals to donate a percentage of their online sales to them in Emma’s memory in hopes of finding a cure. In addition, a new “cure ph” line was formed and 20% of those sales also go to the PHA.
The hope is that no other child (or adult) would die from this disease. Please help us keep Emma’s memory alive and educate society about PH. We need to find a cure.
Read more about Emma at www.snanimals.com or on her carepage at www.carepages.com, after signing in go to “ouremma”
Also visit the PHA at www.phassociation.org
