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Color Run Raising Money For Rett Syndrome Research

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The Color Run Company calls it event "The Happiest 5K in the World."

Though the company makes a profit, it has also helped charities raise millions of dollars. Next stop: Saturday morning in Pittsburgh.

The Color Run kicks off on the North Side, in a parking lot near the Hyatt Place Hotel. All along the route, volunteers will douse the runners in multi-colored corn starch.

Runners and volunteers will raise funds for research on a devastating disorder called Rett syndrome.

Jenn Langzettel coaches the women's rowing team at Duquesne University. For her, the Color Run is personal. Jenn's daughter, 5-year-old Kaley, has a severe form of the disorder.

"Rett syndrome is a genetic mutation that affects the neurological system," Jenn says. "It makes it difficult for her to walk, use her motor skills properly, her hands."

Because of a vision problem, Kaley attends the Western Pennsylvania School for the Blind. But it's Rett syndrome that keeps her in a wheelchair.

"We're hoping that through the research that's being funded through fundraisers that they'll start, hopefully, to come up with a cure for Rett syndrome," Kaley's mother says. "And they're already on track to do that in Kaley's lifetime. So that's exciting."

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