Hi Jessica we are arriving Monday staying at Hannaford Suites we will be there until friday Sleep study on tuesday night tests on wed and thurs dr, appiontments leaving on friday.  Let me know what your schedule is would love to meet up

Hi, Jessica,

Nice to know you. My name is Van Anh, I live in Vietnam, and my son have deletion of exon 18-25.  We all need exon 17 skipping. And my son was diagnosed just in early this week. He is 17 months now. Hope to be your friend.

Have a nice day, Jessica.

Van Anh

They are doing great and how is your son? I hope he is well, you are one of the first people that I have met with a son with a deletion so similar to my boys. They are very special and they are the ones who show me what living is because they never give up no matter how tired they are!! Have a great day!!

Hi Jessica,
Thanks for the comment. Don't give up on Exon Skipping yet. 'Im not an expert, but what I understand about exon skipping is this.
Exon Skipping attempts to restore the Reading Frame in the Gene. What our boys have is large deletions in the Central Rod Domain of the gene. The deletions causes an out of frame condition. Skipping one exon in each boy will potentially restore the reading frame. For Dylan this is Exon 44, for Wyatt, this will be Exon 17, or Exon both Exons 42 and 43.
If the reading frame is restored, the theory is that a functional form, but truncated Dystrophin protien will be produced. Look up the following link...
http://www.actionduchenne.org/duchennepedia/article/15/exon-skipping

Boys with beckers can have large deletions, especially in the Central Rod Domain of the gene. but the reading frame is in place. This enables them to produce Dystrophin. I have read reports of Men with large deletions in the dystrophin gene, that were not diagnosed with Beckers until they were in thier 20's, and older.
This is the Goal of Exon Skipping....to produce a form of Dystrophin that will help our boys. Obviously, the efficacy will be different for each patient, but a limited form of Dystrophin is better than none!!!

Again, this is my understanding of what Exon Skipping can potentially do for our boys. But, I'm not an expert.
Thanks again for sending a comment. There is hope out there for our boys. I remember the day we got the diagnosis....3rd April 2009 at 3pm. We were devestated!! But there are small glimmers in light out there for us!! All we try to do is be positive...and do our best for Dylan......

Best wishes,
Damien

Hi! Hope all is well with you. I haven't been on here for such a long time. Hope the families doing well. Keep in touch!

Dear Jessica

My daughter is a carrier and is beginning PGD. Any thoughts or advice? She is 29 also. I'm sure she would like to talk to you.

Congratulations. Please don't worry about getting that stuff to me, just when you can, you have your hands full that's for sure. I knew that you were having a baby, I just didn't know when you were due. I hope the little one is well. Take care of yourself and your new sweet boy. Talk to you soon.

Jessica, Hi how are you? It's been about a month since I talked to you. You had mentioned that you were planning on attending the Atlanta conference and could possibly send me a copy of your notes. I would appreciate very much if you could do that. I hope "your Wyatt" is well. "My Wyatt" is doing great. At 16 months, he's now crawling on all fours, pulling himself up and crusing around furniture. He's a climber, yesterday he climbed onto the door of the dishwasher and just sat there. It was so funny. Take care.
Melissa

Hey Jessica,

I accidentally erased your email and now I am not sure of what it is. I am looking forward to Wednesday. I wanted to talk to you about the plans. Email me again and this time I will keep your address. Or you can call my cell at 832-573-5830. Talk to you soon, Kim