Our son Asher Gangadharan Krop died on December 18, 2016 from pneumonia caused by Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV). HMPV can cause upper and lower respiratory disease in people of all ages, especially among young children, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems. HMPV was discovered in 2001 and is in the Pneumoviridae family along with respiratory syncytial virus. There is no specific antiviral therapy or vaccine for HMPV. Medical care is supportive.

Before catching this virus, Asher was a healthy 15-month-old baby. He fell ill and died in one week’s time. It is very important to our family to get as many answers as possible to understand this tragedy that unfortunately affects many healthy children. Investing in HMPV research can help save other children’s lives and protect their families from going through the trauma we’ve experienced.

Asher was the sunshine of our family and we each had a special connection with him. As part of our grief process we have looked for ways to continue Asher’s legacy and help other families. We came across Dr. John Williams who is one of a handful of pediatric specialists in the country that researches the cause and better treatments for severe disease and death caused by HMPV. To my surprise, Dr. John Williams works on the same immune molecules that I worked on during my postdoctoral fellowship. I took that as a sign to continue to pursue this fund raising effort.

Our goal is to raise funds to help support Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and Dr. John Williams’ pursuit of discovering better treatments and a vaccine.

So far we have raised over $37,000 which has allowed us to permanently name the fund the Asher Krop Memorial Fund and fund much needed research. We are asking friends, family, and the community to keep giving to allow for continual research on HMPV.

We are extremely grateful for your willingness to support this effort and interest in learning more about the virus that killed our son.