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About MD | The
Facts About Duchenne | Research
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About
MD
There
are more than 70,000 babies, children and adults
living in the UK today who suffer from muscular
dystrophy or a related muscle disease. That means
that there are some 350,000 people (family, friends,
carer's, etc) who are affected.
If
you or one of your family is newly diagnosed, it
might be of some help (at some stage) to know that
you are not alone.
Lets
be straight - a diagnosis of any disease is a huge
shock and different people deal with it in different
ways. There is no right or wrong way to deal with
shock or grief.
But
rest assured, there are people, living in your situation,
who can help and support you.
The
national body campaigning for all the muscle diseases
is the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign - a wonderful
bunch of people dedicated to helping you. Locally,
there are people like us.....together, we are stronger!
Click
here to learn more about the different types of
Muscle Disease
The
Facts about Duchenne
 
Duchenne
muscular dystrophy (DMD) affects only boys (with
extremely rare exceptions).
DMD
is one of more than 20 different types of Muscular
Dystrophy. All dystrophies are genetic disorders.
In
66% of cases the mother is the carrier of the disease.
In the remaining percentage DMD occurs as a genetic
mutation at conception
and therefore can happen to anyone.
There
is a 1 in 3500 chance of giving birth to a DMD Child.
There
are approximately 11,500 prople across the Midlands
who suffer from a form of muscular dystrophy.
DMD
is the commonest and most aggressive form of Muscular
Dystrophy.
2
boys are born and die with DMD every week in the
UK.
There
are about 1500 boys suffering with DMD living in
the UK at any one time.
By about 8 to 11 years boys become wheelchair bound.
Life
expectancy is very variable depending upon the individual
and the management of the condition. It can range
from teen'sto
the mid 40's (this is a dramatic improvement on
the previous 10 - 20 years).
Did
you know that 95% of boys in any children's hospice
have Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.
Research
It
would be totally pointless for me to spend my time
reproducing the fantastic work of Muscular Dystrophy
UK website and so, for the most up-to-date info
on research into a potential treatment or cure go
to:
http://www.musculardystrophyuk.org/progress-in-research/
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