Maxim Charitable Foundation 2004 Recipient
Lauren Leeber
In 2004, five-year-old Lauren Leeber was chosen as the Maxim Charitable Foundation's first recipient. In 2003, Lauren was struck by an infection so severe that she went from perfect health to the brink of death in a matter of hours. Lauren contracted a meningococcal infection caused by a common bacterium called neisseria. On extremely rare occasions, neisseria enters the circulatory system and proliferates so as to turn a person's blood into sludge. In Lauren's case, the blood was unable to reach her extremities, causing her to lose her right hand, both legs below the knee, and the use of her kidneys. Lauren finally returned home after an eight-month hospital stay, during which time she received a kidney donated by her mother.
The Maxim Charitable Foundation donated money to the Lauren Leeber Trust to help offset the costs of her prosthetics, which enabled Lauren to have a more mobile lifestyle, and to assist with the costs of medications and future treatments.