Leslie Knipfing

Leslie Knipfing is famous for being the sister of well-known comedic actor, Kevin James.

Background

Leslie was born in Mineola, New York, and was raised in Stony Brook, Long Island with the rest of her family. Her mother’s name is Janet and she was a homemaker who used to work in a chiropractor’s office as well. Her father on the other hand was Joseph Valentine Knipfing Jr and he was the proud owner of an insurance agency company. Her family is of German Descent.

They have always been a really united family. They love each other so much and even though life has not always been the easiest journey for them, they are together through the good and bad and through the highs and lows.

Personal Life

Leslie has two famous brothers in the entertainment industry. Her brother, Kevin James works as a comedian, actor, and producer. Her other brother, Gary Joseph Knipfing also known as “Gary Valentine” is a comedian and actor. Comedy really runs in her family tree.

Most of Leslie’s childhood is unknown to the public due to the fact that she is not a celebrity like her brothers. The third and youngest of her siblings has all it takes to follow her brothers’ footsteps. She has good looks, a charming personality and a highly honed sense of humor combined with her feminine touch to make it even more enjoying for audiences. Yet, she suffers from Retinitis Pigmentosa, an inherited and degenerative eye disease that causes severe vision impairment. That is more than enough to keep the ambitious and aspiring Leslie from pursuing her biggest dream of becoming an actress.

Providing a bit more insight on Leslie’s condition will probably help readers walk in her shoes. During the early stages of RP (Retinitis Pigmentosa), people experience night blindness and a progressive loss of the visual field. In the late stages of RP, as the cones die, people tend to lose more of the visual field. They may have difficulty performing essential tasks of daily living such as reading, driving, walking without assistance, or recognizing faces and objects.

As bad and discomforting as her medical condition seems, Leslie has not given up a single day in her life. On the contrary, she and her brothers have taken a number of actions to aid her and others as well. Together they have worked to raise money through charity events for RP. For Leslie, it has been a really long and hard journey since it has limited her in her professional career. She has embraced her role in helping other people to fight against the disease.

Her brother loves her so much that he gave her job. It is not only allowing her to earn money but to help other people who are suffering the same illness she has. She has a lot of faithful friends that have been with her through all of her life.

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She has never been married and the media does not know if she is dating someone. She dreams about having a big family, a lot of children and cats. She loves cats and enjoys their companionship. For all these things and more she has been a true inspiration for a lot of people. She has demonstrated that even when it is hard to suffer with an illness, she still can make something to change the world.

Living With a Medical Condition

Leslie is still working with her brother in the charity projects that brings awareness to her condition.

She always dreamed about acting and performing as various characters in the movies, but it has not been possible yet. She says she still has hope, and that even though her illness has limited her in a lot of ways, she is not ready to give up yet.

She has stated several times that this illness has taught her a lot of lessons in life. She confessed she was a really selfish person that she never cared about other people’s necessities, but that now that she is suffering her own problem she has learned to understand and to be more loving with people around her. Struggling with her own demons, Kevin’s sister gets enough help from a team of experts, which includes occupational therapists, orientation and mobility specialists, certified low vision therapists, and other medical professionals. All this is needed just so that she can deal with daily tasks.

There has been research to develop a variety of treatments to prevent vision loss and restore sight. Gene therapy for several different types of RP has shown promise in the laboratory. An artificial vision device called the Argus II has also shown promise for restoring some vision to people with late-stage RP. There is always a chance that Leslie will gain a better vision or keep her current vision from completely diminishing.

Though she loves to work with her brother, one of her dreams is to have her own business where she can get money and where she can help people who don’t have enough resources to fight against their illness. Not only “Retinitis pigmentosa” but against cancer, HIV, and all the others lethal illnesses as well.

The kind-hearted lady is posing as a great example for all of us to follow in life. Learning from her condition, she turned from a selfish average modern-day person to a caring and compassionate human being who strives to help those in need and especially those who can’t fight for themselves. To that, people should bow and wholeheartedly wish Leslie to live her life at its fullest potential the way she has been doing until now already, and of course to keep helping others who are dealing with their own problems.

Net Worth

Her net worth is unknown. A lot of information about her life is still unknown to the internet as there seems to be no information about her on any site not even on IMDB which is a famous hub to find info on celebrities. She is content with her fight against her medical condition.

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