Join Bradley's fight against muscle disease
Bradley is six years old and has an incurable muscle disease
Hi, my name is Sarah Thompson and I am Bradley's Mum. Bradley was just three years old when we realised something was wrong. He was falling over a lot - I thought it was to do with learning to walk. But when the pre-school he went to showed me a list of accidents he'd had in one week, I took him to the doctors immediately.
They looked at how he stood and walked. It was then we noticed that he overlapped his knees when standing, and that he tiptoed on one side. They did some blood tests too, and it was when they called with the results that I first heard of this condition. I didn't know what it meant or what to do. They told me then that he wouldn't live past 19. I was absolutely devastated.
After Bradley was diagnosed we had to wait a year before we could get accessible housing. Then, we had to go on a waiting list for a wheelchair. I've realised you have to fight for everyting. When the wheelchair finally arrived, it was a lovely surprise that there were smiley faces on the wheels. We weren't expecting that, and it made it much easier for Bradley to like it - he loves the smileys!
He doesn't have to use it fulltime yet, but he does get tired quickly. So we take it to the park or on school trips, and he can use it when he needs to. But one day, he will rely on it completely, and we have to plan ahead for that. There is so much to think about; the house has to be adapted, the doors have to be widened, and the garage will have to be converted into a downstairs bedroom and bathroom for Bradley. Already, he finds it difficult to climb the stairs. All of these things take so much time and effort to sort out.
What really motivates me and gives me strength to carry on is all the amazing research that the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign funds. They currently support 28 projects looking at different aspects of muscular dystrophy. And the ones focussing on the kind that Bradley has are at an exciting stage. This gives us great hope for more and better treatments for my son and boys like him.
Reesarch has already led to life-changing treatments like the steroid therapy Bradley has recently started. This keeps boys with his condition walking for longer. So I know for sure that resesrach does make a real, practical difference to families like ours.
