Outdoor Recreation Opportunities for Everyone

Ben Schwartz doesn’t let Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) stop him from enjoying the great outdoors. This 9-year-old from Des Moines, Iowa, has wheeled up massive sand dunes at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Colorado, strolled paved trails at Guadalupe Mountains National Park in West Texas, and skied down a snowy slope at . . .

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How to Set Goals for Personal Growth and Wellness

When he was 15 years old, Elijah Stacy had a dream: to end Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), the disease that affects him and thousands of other people. So, he decided to start a nonprofit called Destroy Duchenne to support advancing gene-editing and gene-therapy technologies to find a cure for DMD.  To achieve his ambitious goal, . . .

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Life-Saving PJ’s Protocol Was Inspired by a Person With DMD

At Daytona International Speedway, if you see a silver wheelchair-accessible minivan flash by outside the stadium, it’s shuttling people who need assistance getting around the expansive venue. Philip James “PJ” Nicholoff would be happy knowing that his family donated his beloved van to the speedway, and its back windows display signage honoring him. A big . . .

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Talking About Your Child’s Diagnosis Helps Build Your Support System

When Stephanie and Wayne Donato received the diagnosis of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) for their son Maximus, who was 4 at the time, in 2017, “we were completely blindsided,” Stephanie says. The couple quickly realized there were a lot of people they needed to tell, and they started with their own family. The Donatos also . . .

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Dreaming of a good night’s sleep?

More than one-third of adults in the United States fail to get the seven to nine hours of sleep they need, reports the National Sleep Foundation. Children and teens require even more sleep, which too many also miss out on.  Getting quality sleep can be challenging for people with neuromuscular disorders. However, with the right . . .

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It Is OK to Have Mixed Feelings About Resuming Activities After Being Vaccinated

For more than a year we heard these messages: Wash your hands. Wear a mask. Stay six feet apart.  Now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says people who are fully vaccinated can resume many of the activities they did before the pandemic. The CDC recommends masks indoors in public for everyone in locales where . . .

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