I have muscular dystrophy. Support for this disease is incredibly important, and there's a walk coming up near you. Before signing up, find out more about this disease! The link to sign up for the walk can be found at the bottom of this article, too!

What is Muscular Dystrophy?

Muscular Dystrophy is a group of diseases that causes weakness in the muscles. There group of nine Muscular Dystrophies that are known as of right now and there is more research coming to see if there are more.

How do people get Muscular Dystrophy?

It all depends on which group the disease is in.

Congenital: People that have a congenital Muscular Dystrophy has muscle weakness and joint deformities. The disease doesn’t start affecting the muscles until the child starts getting older. At birth, the disease is known but about around age four, the disease starts to progress.

Duchenne: People that have Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy has muscle weakness. Their pelvis, upper arms, and upper legs are affected. This disease mostly affects boys but it is rare for girls to have Duchenne.

Becker: Becker Muscular Dystrophy is like Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy but less severe. This disease starts progressing when the person is in their early twenties. Same as Duchenne, boys mostly have Becker.

Myotonic: This disease affects the feet, hands, face, and neck of the person. It doesn’t affect a person until they are about 20 to 40 years old so the progression of the disease is very slow.

Distal: Distal causes weakness in the muscles of the hands, forearms, and lower legs. The progression is slow so people will start having Distal at the age of 40 to 60.

Oculopharyngeal: This disease causes weakness in the eyelid. Muscles in the throat weakness and throughout time the ability to swallow will become difficult. The progression is slow so people will start having Oculopharyngeal at the age of 40 to 70.

Emery-Dreifuss: This disease cause weakness in the shoulder, upper arm, and shin muscles. Just like Congenital, the person will have joint deformities. This progression is not as slow as other but it progresses in childhood to early teen years.

Limb-Girdle: This disease affects the muscles and wasting. The shoulder girdle and pelvic girdle are mostly affected. This progression is not as slow either but it progresses in childhood to middle ages.

Facioscapulohumeral: This disease affects the facial muscles. It also affects the shoulder and upper arms. This progression starts in childhood to early adults.

Are all People with Muscular Dystrophy the same?

The funny thing about Muscular Dystrophy is that even though each Muscular Dystrophy has a definition and explanation but each person can have different experiences with their disease.

For instance, I have Ullrich Muscular Dystrophy. This disease is very rare because I am the only person with this disease and at the time of my diagnosis, I was the number ninety-six in the world to have it. That disease falls in the Congenital group. I was birth with Ullrich and it didn’t show until I was about age four or five. I was able to ride my bike, run, and play all day to not able to walk up the stair, having to take breaks with walking, and going to the doctors more than other children. I have to be in a wheelchair because my muscles in my legs aren’t strong enough for me to walk in long distance. I am different than other people with Ullrich because even though I am unable to walk far, I can still walk but with my walker. Other people with my disease aren’t able to walk because, at the age of eight to eleven, most children with my disease have to be in a wheelchair permanently.

Is Muscular Dystrophy the same as Multiple Sclerosis (MS)?

NO! They aren’t the same. Muscular Dystrophy and MS are totally different. It is crazy how many time people have confused with my disease with MS. Please be careful because that can be offensive to people with Muscular Dystrophy.

So What Next?

I have given you the definition about each Muscular Dystrophy but what’s next?

Here some advice:

Don’t think people with Muscular Dystrophy are just people who are weird, weak, and not normal. They are normal. They just have something that makes them different from the rest of the world which to me is pretty awesome! If you are unsure about what to say or what to do, here is another advice: JUST GO TALK TO THEM! I promise you they won’t bite.

Ask Questions: Ask people with MD about their disease and try to be understanding. You will learn so much and appreciate so much more in life. What you complained about a minute ago won’t even matter at that moment.

Be Part of the Muscular Dystrophy Association: If you want to be more involved and learn more about Muscular Dystrophy be part of the MDA! This organization helps people with MD and their families to get the care they need, help raise money for doctors to find more research and hopefully one day a cure for all the MD, and just help show the world that people with MD that they are amazing! There are MDA summer camps, walks, and different events to educate people on all the MD.

I wanted to bring awareness about Muscular Dystrophy because I wanted to show everyone that it deserves to be known and the effects of it. Most importantly show that everyone who has MD, they go through many trials and tribulations but they are very positive people. They see the world as something so amazing and precious. We go through struggles but we don’t allow those struggles to affect us.

My goal here is to show people that we should all be more understanding about each other and give people who are different from “normal” a chance. We are all different in a way but some people differences are more noticeable than others. That’s okay. When you see someone with a disability, please talk to them. We are still human and we still love to do regular things. Let spread peace and love around instead of judgment. That could be a step to help make the world a better place.

PLEASE JOIN the MDA Walk that will be held on October 21st which is a Saturday at Fluor Field, Greenville, SC! It will start at 9 am.

You can join my team which is TEAM NILA or Ullrich Knights whichever you prefer! This is the link to join and donate! If you join, you will get a t-shirt!

You can contact me at my email nila.morton@furman.edu for more information or if you have any questions.

If you can’t join but still want to help raise money, you can click on the Donate button and donate as much as you can! Spread the word around.