Personal care attendants (PCAs) play a crucial role in helping people in the neuromuscular disease community day to day. Whether they’re assisting with activities of daily living or managing medical equipment, PCAs often make independent living possible. But they can be hard to find. The first hire — or the second or third — might . . .
The Sweeneys — John, 58; his wife, Jennifer, 50; and daughters Dana, 24; Rachel, 22; and Ashley, 19 — live in a rowhouse in a small suburb outside of Philadelphia. Their street, John says, is busy — not unlike life inside the rowhouse lately. During the pandemic, the girls were living, working, and attending school . . .
Sean Baumstark was 25 when he was diagnosed with Friedrich’s ataxia, a neuromuscular disease that affects the nervous system and heart and causes muscle weakness and ataxia, a loss of balance and coordination. “During my diagnosis,” Sean says, “the geneticist started talking about support groups and encouraging that I come to grips with what I . . .
In the gaming world, Paul Scherer goes by Puzzle. And as community manager of MDA Let’s Play, our dedicated community gaming and fundraising platform, he anticipates technical issues and seeks solutions to player requests to put together an experience that, for MDA gamers, is as seamless as it is satisfying. But who is the guy . . .
In March, as the novel coronavirus spread across the US, we at MDA realized it would be impossible to safely gather our community’s children and teens at MDA Summer Camps this year. But that didn’t mean we had to cancel camp, or its spirit. “We know how much MDA Summer Camp means to our community, . . .
Since 2011, MDA Muscle Walks have been gathering individuals living with muscular dystrophy, ALS, and related neuromuscular diseases with their families, friends, and communities across America. Together, they’ve raised awareness of everyday life with muscle disease — and they’ve raised $49 million to fund expert care and innovative research directed toward delivering cures. This year, . . .
In 1950, when the Muscular Dystrophy Association was founded, muscular dystrophy and neuromuscular disease weren’t well known or well understood. But they were, as today, affecting an entire community of kids and adults. And so in 1952, MDA made a move to introduce this community of individuals and families to the world. MDA’s National Ambassador . . .
Santos “JR” Ortiz hadn’t always dreamed of becoming a fire fighter. He didn’t play on fire trucks as a kid, or even know much about fire departments. But when he was in his late 20s, a friend in the Boston Fire Department started talking about the job, and JR took notice. When that friend dropped . . .
For the last four months, Amy Shinneman has been training to do something she never imagined doing: hitting the pavement as a participant in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. Amy, a 45-year-old Noblesville, Ind., native, lives with Bethlem myopathy, a form of Ullrich congenital muscular dystrophy that causes muscle weakness throughout her limbs. “From . . .
Even though the Martinez family lives in Burbank, Calif., within an hour’s drive to Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, their road to the hospital’s specialized clinics — to Dr. Robert Baloh and his work there — was a long one. Daniel and Gladis Martinez have two daughters: Genesis, 15, and Isabella, 14, born just 10 . . .
