When Laura and Patrick Sargent started Maddie’s Mission four years ago, they were simply trying to find a way forward after their daughter Maddie’s diagnosis of Angelman syndrome. Today, that personal act of love has grown into a community force.
In 2025, their annual block party pushed Maddie’s Mission past a remarkable milestone: more than $1 million raised in just four years to support research, clinical care, and hope-filled futures for people living with Angelman syndrome.
Turning a Moment of Heartbreak Into a Mission
Like so many families living with Angelman syndrome, the Sargents’ journey began with questions, fear, and a desperate search for answers. Along the way, they found partners who shared their urgency and vision for Maddie’s future.
“We want to thank Children’s Mercy, ASF, FAST, and Ultragenyx,” they shared. “Maddie’s Mission is the glue that brought all these amazing organizations together not just here in KC but beyond to bring the clinic, trials, and research here in Kansas City.”
For Laura and Patrick, fundraising is not abstract. Every dollar is about making sure Maddie and children like her have access to the best science, the best care, and the best shot at life-changing treatments.
A Block Party for a Cause
If you ask the Sargents what makes Maddie’s Mission special, they will tell you it is the people. That is why they chose a family-inclusive block party as their signature event.
Each year, they turn a Kansas City street into a celebration of community, with a silent auction, an appearance by K.C. Wolf, the official mascot of the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs, surprise tribute performances by “Almost Taylor Swift” and “Almost Andy Reid,” local cheer and dance teams, and kid-favorite stops like a Swiftie friendship bracelet station, face painting, airbrush tattoos, caricatures, and The Bubble Guy. This year, live music from The Suburbans kept the party going all night.
The Dance that Means Everything
There is one moment at the block party that captures the heart of Maddie’s Mission. It happens every year, in the middle of the music and the noise, when the crowd gathers and the lights feel just a little softer.
“Early in our Angelman syndrome journey, I cried as a father thinking I would not be able to dance with my daughter Maddie one day at her wedding,” Patrick shares with the crowd."
Patrick realized he could take that painful thought and turn it into something hopeful. So now, every year, he chooses a new song and invites Maddie to the center of the party for a special father–daughter dance. He also invites anyone who wants to step onto the pavement and dance for love, for hope, for the belief that the future can look different than the fear they once had.
That dance has become a symbol of why the Sargents do this. What started as a private heartbreak has become a public expression of love and resilience. It is a reminder that even when the path is hard, families like the Sargents keep moving anyway.
A Message to Families
Maddie’s Mission is about raising money, but it is also about raising spirits. The Sargents are honest about the emotional weight of this journey and the way that hope helps them carry it.
“Maddie is proof that miracles happen every day. There are hard to near impossible days along this journey. We’re able to overcome the dark hard days with the hope that Maddie’s Mission brings to give miracles back to our community. ‘Turning Can’t into Can – One Miracle at a Time."
Their message to other families is simple: your story matters, your community wants to help more than you think, and you do not have to do all of this alone.
At FAST, we are deeply grateful for Maddie’s Mission and for every family that chooses to turn fear into action and isolation into community. One block party at a time, they are helping build a future where children with Angelman syndrome can grow up with more options, more treatments, and more people in their corner.
And for one little girl in Kansas City, the dance floor is already hers.