From the Associated Press report:
Hunter Kelly, whose battle with a fatal nervous system disease inspired his Hall of Fame father Jim Kelly’s charitable works, died Friday morning. He was 8.
“Our prayers go to the family and kids,” Jim Kelly’s brother, Dan, told The Associated Press.
Born in 1997, Hunter Kelly was given no more than three years to live after being diagnosed with Krabbe Disease, an inherited degenerative disorder of the central and peripheral nervous systems. The disease hinders development of the myelin sheath, a fatty covering that protects the brain’s nerve fibers.
In honor of their son, Jim Kelly and his wife, Jill, established the Hunter’s Hope Foundation in 1997, which has raised more than $6 million and awarded more than $3.8 million to leukodystrophy and other neurological disease-related research.