About Duchenne


Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
  • A progressive muscle disorder that affects only boys
  • The number one genetic killer in the world
  • Causes the loss of both muscle function and independence
  • Most common of the over 30 diseases of the muscles
  • Nearly all boys with DMD die by the age of 20
  • A boy inherits DMD when he receives an X chromosome that fails to make the protein dystrophin, an essential building block of healthy muscle
  • Approximately 20,000 children worldwide, or one in every 3,500 boys, are born with DMD
  • Boys with DMD show signs of muscle weakness as early as age 3.
  • Walking, running, or riding a bike is a challenge for a boy with DMD, as the disease gradually weakens the skeletal or voluntary muscles in the arms, legs and trunk
  • Nearly all boys with DMD lose the ability to walk sometime between ages 8 and 12 and require full-time use of a wheelchair
  • By the early teens or even earlier, the disease may also affect the boy’s heart and respiratory muscles
  • Accepted treatments, such as a steroid regimen can only lessen symptoms and improve the quality of life
  • Steroid regimens wreak havoc on these boys’ bodies
  • The only significant breakthrough in DMD research was the discovery of the defective gene causing DMD – dystrophin – in 1986 at the Children’s Hospital in Boston, MA
  • In the 20  plus years since that discovery there is nothing to stop or reverse the muscle degeneration of DMD.

We are a 501c3 charity dedicated to increasing awareness of  Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) while appropriating funds for quality care and research that will create treatments for DMD, ensuring affected children will have the opportunity of a lifetime.

Click here to see our IRS Determination Letter.

 

JB's Keys to DMD is now a member of: