Registered Charity No 1137212

Click the logo above to find out what we do for muscle disease sufferer's across the West Midlands.

In May 2005, Mark (my husband) and I were devastated by the news that our dear son Murray has been diagnosed with the Terminal, muscle-wasting disease Muscular Dystrophy - Specifically, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. This is the most aggressive, and commonest form of the 26 or so variants of this disease.

All the muscular dystrophies are caused by faults in genes (the units of inheritance that parents pass on to their children) and they cause progressive muscle weakness because muscle cells break down and are gradually lost. The Duchenne type affects only boys (with extremely rare exceptions) and a problem in this gene is known to result in a defect in a single important protein in muscle fibres called dystrophin. It is named after Dr Duchenne de Boulogne who worked in Paris in the mid-19th century who was one of the first people to study the muscular dystrophies.

About a 100 boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy are born in the UK each year. There are about 1,500 known boys with the disorder living in the UK at any one time. For the general population the risk of having an affected child is about one in every 3,500 male births.

Unfortunately no cure has yet been discovered. But there are ways to manage the condition which help with its complications. These have had a very important impact on the quality and length of life that can be expected with this condition. A great deal can be done to help limit the effects of the muscular dystrophy and this includes treatments which are now definitely known to help some of the problems which may be life threatening, but no treatment is known which affects the actual loss of muscle cells though.

For the first time the dream of a treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a realistic possibility. Thanks to the Race Against Time Campaign, the Government has already shown a commitment to research in this area.

If you would like to; know more about the condition, help us raise money or make a donation, to support the vital research programmes set on finding a treatment or even cure for this horrific muscle wasting, life limiting disease - please click on the "Muscular Dystrophy Campaign" logo at the top of this page.

The net result is that this Practice is commited to help raise funds towards a treatment for the children suffering from this disease - Please help us!