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In the late summer of 2021, we took a family vacation to Orlando, Florida. Our resort had an accessible outdoor pool, so we couldn’t resist spending a sunny morning relaxing in the glittering water. As I sat in my mom’s lap, my smaller, floppy body held upright…

“Why is she in a wheelchair?” is one of the most common phrases I hear when I’m out and about. Funnily enough, I’ve grown so accustomed to staying home these past few years that I almost forgot what it felt like to be the subject of someone’s curiosity.

The loss of SMN protein in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) may lead to disease features by causing a deficiency in another enzyme called ALDH1A2, which is essential for the maturation and expansion of motor neurons, the cells that are lost in SMA, according to a new study. The…

A surprise pregnancy hurled my husband, Randy, and me way off guard in the fall of 1996. There were gasps aplenty when our peeps received the news, as we were both in our 40s and already weary of hawking fundraiser wrapping paper. Our bonus baby, Jeffrey, arrived on…

The MiR34 family of microRNAs represents a set of promising biomarkers to assess therapeutic response in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a study proposes. MicroRNA levels in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), the liquid surrounding the brain and spinal cord, before and during therapy, predicted and correlated with improved motor…

Treatment with Spinraza (nusinersen) for two years led to improvements in apnea and oxygen saturation during sleep in children with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a real-world study in Australia reported. The treatment also contributed to ceasing ventilation support in some patients with less severe disease, and stabilized…

When I was a little girl, I had many life-threatening hospitalizations, the first at 16 months of age. Ten months after I was diagnosed with SMA, I experienced my first bout with respiratory syncytial virus and was intubated for weeks. Though I was too young to…

The side effects that some patients experience on Evrysdi (risdiplam), an approved treatment for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), may be due to how the therapy alters the activity of thousands of genes when given at high doses, according to a new study in cell models. Findings also…

Speaking seems like a simple act: You open your mouth and say words. The end. But in actuality, it involves a number of mechanics: oxygen flowing through your lungs, up your trachea, and through your larynx, creating sounds that are then shaped by the voluntary muscles of your…

The amount of neurofilament proteins found in the cerebrospinal fluid, the liquid surrounding the brain and spinal cord, may help doctors better distinguish between adult-onset spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a study found. The two conditions are marked by damage to motor neurons,…