Julia’s Wings Foundation Brings Awareness to Rare Disease in Memory of Local Resident Written by Julia’s Wings Foundation Prev Residents will be seeing lots of red bows, lights, shirts, decorations and more around the area starting March 1st and continuing until March 7th, as part of the Operation Wear Red Campaign organized by the Julia’s Wings Foundation to raise awareness of aplastic anemia, a rare bone marrow failure disease that affects just one in 250,000 people each year. While the disease can affect anyone at any age, it is most common in children and young adults. The campaign, now in its 7th year, is held in honor of local resident Julia Malsin and seeks to educate the general public about the disease and how they can help children and families affected by it. Julia, who passed away in 2012 at the age of 13 had just one wish, that children battling the disease would never be alone in the hospital as they underwent lengthy treatment. Her parents and sister, Heather, Mike and Alyssa Malsin, along with a group of dedicated community members established the Julia’s Wings Foundation (JWF) in 2013 to provide financial assistance to families touched by aplastic anemia, raise funds for research and to increase awareness of the disease. Since its inception, JWF has awarded grants to families of children battling aplastic anemia over $280,000, partnered with 80 hospitals across the country and with the Aplastic Anemia & MDS International Foundation, to dedicate a total of $120,000 to aplastic anemia research.