Bangkok--16 Oct--Brand Now
Volunteers from Make-A-Wish Foundation were recently invited to organize several social and recreational activities for children suffering from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a genetic disorder characterized by progressive muscle degeneration and weakness.
Over 30 families attended a Duchenne workshop at Ramathibodhi Hospital organized by the Foundation to Eradicate Neuromuscular Disease (FEND), where physicians from Chulalongkorn, Siriraj and Ramathibodi hospitals provided families with free and informative session on Duchenne.
Duchenne usually affects only boys, although girls may carry the Duchenne gene, and affects 1 in 3500 male births.
There are approximately 1,000 Duchenne patients in Thailand. Symptom onset is early at childhood between the ages of 3-4 years old. Some of the signs include frequent falls, difficulty getting up from a lying or sitting position, trouble running and jumping, walking on the toes, and muscle pain and stiffness.
The life expectancy for those with this disease is late teens or twenties and there is no treatment available yet.
For more information on Make-A-Wish Foundation Thailand, please visit www.makeawish.or.th or https://www.facebook.com/thailandmakeawish