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Brookville, NY Family Has Quite an Entourage

Rich and Colleen Genatt have always known that their daughter, Allison, was a star. Even when she was diagnosed with the incurable kidney disease FSGS on Mother’s Day in 2001, the Brookville, NY, family has constantly been inspired by their daughter’s courage and determination.

“Allison has been through the wringer and still has a wonderful, bubbly, fun, loving personality,” said Colleen. “She has given us such hope by always staying positive, no matter what challenges were put in front of her. She is truly an inspiration to us.”

Allie, now 12, has received a kidney transplant, and her family works closely with the national kidney disease nonprofit, The NephCure Foundation (www.nephcure.org), to raise awareness in the fight against FSGS in hopes of finding a cure.

Recently, another member of the Genatt family was able to showcase his star power as well, as older brother Alex taped a walk-on role for the hit HBO original series Entourage. The episode that Alex will appear in will air July 31.

Show creator Doug Ellin personally auctioned off the walk-on role at a NephCure event, which raised over $500,000 in the fight against kidney disease. The Genatts won the auction and made a week-long family vacation to Hollywood out of it, spending two days at the studio meeting the cast and crew of the show leading up to the taping on April 21.

“Allison is an inspiration to everyone she meets,” said Ellin. “Nobody, especially a child, should have to go through what she has gone through because of this kidney disease. I’m just glad that I could help her family enjoy themselves in Hollywood. The NephCure Foundation is a great resource for families dealing with the diseases FSGS and Nephrotic Syndrome.”

The family met and had pictures taken with almost all of the stars of the show including Adrian Grenier, Jeremy Piven, Kevin Connolly, Kevin Dillon and Jerry Ferrara.

“This was so exciting for us,” said Rich Genatt. “It was very nice to do something as a family, and watch our kids light up at this opportunity, especially since they have been through so much. It’s just great to be able to take a step back and relax and take part in something that benefitted a great cause like NephCure.”