5 Muscular Dystrophy Stories

These five muscular dystrophy patients are inspiring the entire community with their stories and their outlook on life.

In this inspiring video from MDA, we meet Jimmy Valdes and his wife, Julie. Originally from Queens, New York, 47-year-old Jimmy was diagnosed with spinal muscular dystrophy (SMA) in 1971 at 2 years old. Watch the video to learn more about their amazing love story.

MORE: Discover how living with a degenerative muscular disease affects these two people’s lives. 

This video from Muscular Dystrophy WA shares Laura’s story. Laura is a 22-year-old university student from Western Australia who has Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy. She’s studying for a Bachelor of criminology and justice with the hope of one day working with criminal offenders on parole.

MORE: Find out more about the nine main types of muscular dystrophy

In this episode of Muscle Owl Talks from Muscle Owl, host Peter Duffy meets Jon Hastie, a Duchenne muscular dystrophy patient who made the film A Life Worth Living. Jon talks about the film and his charity DMD Pathfinders and what it’s like to be an adult with Duchenne.

MORE: Road to better muscular dystrophy treatment possible with the discovery of new muscle repair pathway. Find out more.

This MDA video — a part of its Live Unlimited initiative — is all about Haley Frieler. Haley was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy at 2 years old and has spent her life in a wheelchair. She hasn’t let her SMA get in the way of achieving her goal of working in the fashion industry, as she says “if there’s a will, there’s a way!”.

MORE: MDA Team Momentum to beat muscular dystrophy at BMW Dallas marathon. Discover more here.

This video from Muscular Dystrophy Queensland follows several patients who have different forms of degenerative muscular conditions.

MORE: Watch an animated explanation of muscular dystrophy here.

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