Empowering doctors to have the tools necessary in the flight against CDIFF

In July 2014, our dad Anthony Gagliardi was diagnosed with colon cancer and needed surgery. After a successful surgery, he went into rehab and that is when his health began to deteriorate as he contracted Clostridioides Difficile bacteria(C-DIFF). C-DIFF is a germ (bacterium) that causes diarrhea and colitis (an inflammation of the colon). Most cases of C-DIFF infection occur while you’re taking antibiotics or not long after you’ve finished taking antibiotics. C-DIFF can be life-threatening.

When he contracted C-DIFF, we had no idea what it was with us thinking it was an intestinal bug that would go away with treatment - it wasnt that easy nor meant to be for my dad. After overcoming this first bout and then again entering rehab, he got it again from a totally different rehab center than the first one. Unfortunately dad was so beat up from the surgery and the C-DIFF bouts that on September 2, 2014, he lost his life to this dreaded and not well known bacteria.

Wanting to make his trial and death meaningful and believing that he was home with the Lord in heaven, our family decided to create a foundation to fund research to find solid treatments and eventually a cure for C-DIFF. Fast forward 10 years, we ran 10 years of fund-raising golf tournaments and have donated over $60,000 to both the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and the UCF College of Medicine Research Fund.

We have made significant impacts to both colleges research efforts; However, there is still much more to be done. It is our vision to coordinate every research effort being done in the USA and the world so there is a central point of information collection for these groups doing research. Join us in making this effort a reality so that a cure is imminent!