The University of Louisville is getting more than $1 million in federal funding for research and medical treatment development.
Rep.John Yarmuth presented a check for $1.6 million to the National Foundation to Support Cell Transplant Research.
"It's a drop in the ocean as far as the federal budget and defense department is concerned," said Yarmuth.
The money, invaluable to the foundation, is just a fraction of the $515 billion Department of Defense budget.
It's especially invaluable to parents watching their children suffer from autoimmune diseases, blood disorders and degenerative conditions.
"Their parents are watching them fall apart. They literally are falling apart over time and there's nothing their parents can do,” said Dr. Suzanne Ildstad, director of Institute for Cellular Therapeutics
Ildstad conducts research at the University of Louisville's Institute of Cellular Therapeutics, one of only three centers like it across the country.
Her work focuses on safely performing bone marrow transplants without life-threatening rejection. If successful, it can help permanently treat or cure the disease and prevent a patient's condition from getting worse.
"I've been astounded at the progress they're making. This is the type of research that could be landmark nature in solving some of the great medical mysteries that we have,” said Yarmuth.
"I think it gives them a tremendous sense of hope," said Ildstad. "It's like a second chance."
The center is close to completing its first successful kidney transplant and then plans to move on to hand transplants.
The Department of Defense provided the funding so the organization can treat soldiers who are wounded at war by providing tissue transplants.
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