Jennifer Sarkar is a lifelong Los Angeles (California) girl, born and raised and still living there today with her family of 4.  She had professional dreams and ambitions of her own many years ago - becoming a nurse, or maybe even a lawyer - and ultimately becoming a mom to (healthy) children. But like a lot of special needs families - and especially mothers - those dreams sometimes get seriously derailed when your nightmare scenario (unhealthy child with a terminal, life-shortening illness) becomes a reality.  And that reality meant the Sarkar family needed Jennifer home with Carter, while her husband Samir pursued his dream to build and run a business that now allows kids everywhere to play sports and learn the important lessons of teamwork and sportsmanship.   

Since then, Jennifer has been essentially Carter’s “right arm” throughout his heroic journey as a Sanfilippo warrior - fighting a whole slew of health challenges and other terrifying experiences. She even home-schools him - almost unheard of for Sanfilippo families (it's exhausting!) - because the reality is that Carter is such an elopement risk that it would take at least two individual aides in the classroom to be able to assist him AND prevent him running out the doors of the school at any time.   She’s pretty much half-nocturnal at this point in her life, as her son’s bedtime now varies from anywhere between midnight and 7AM. Yes, 7AM. But no matter how sleep deprived she may be on any given day, Jennifer is always ready, willing and able to help any other Sanfilippo parent out there who needs her advice and guidance. 

A few other fun facts about Jennifer: 

• Favorite singer - Bruno Mars (she and Carter are both obsessed). 
• Favorite movie - Any good romantic comedy will do. 
• Who inspires her?  Her daughter Sophia ("She has unconditional love for Carter and really takes a lot of pride in being his sister"). 
• Something most don't know about Jennifer: She's an amateur baker and swears she could win at 'Nailed It'. 
• The motto by which she and her family live: "Live today, hope for tomorrow" -- Translation: Try and make every day count, because tomorrow is never promised.  ​

To follow Jennifer on TikTok, go to: https://www.tiktok.com/@carterschallenge.

To check out the “Saving Carter” video (produced by the Cure Sanfilippo Foundation) - which has raised over $1 million in the fight to cure Sanfilippo Syndrome - please click here: www.savingcarter.com. 

To learn more about the Cure Sanfilippo Foundation, click here: www.curesff.org  

To watch a fun, lighthearted music video that the Sarkar family created a few years back that explains Sanfilippo Syndrome, click here: youtu.be/looggQOYK1s.

It was a pleasure and privilege being able to talk to Jennifer and share her story, and we at the Sanfilippo Project look forward to continuing our conversation with Jennifer and collaborating with her in the months ahead as we continue to build out and expand our platform and ultimately share more of our stories with the world...  Click below to hear Jennifer share hers.