WALK FOR GRAHAM ANNUAL EVENT RAISES AWARENESS OF NEUROMUSCULAR DISEASE Writer / Renee Larr Photography Provided
A mother’s intuition is rarely wrong. Adrienne Vollmer started noticing weakness in her son Graham’s extremities from the time of birth. After being referred to a physical therapist, lactation specialist and pulmonologist, Vollmer knew she had to get to the issue behind the symptoms Graham was experiencing. “Graham was referred to a neurologist who admitted him to Riley Children’s Hospital for diagnostic testing,” Vollmer says. “At about eight weeks old, Graham was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy.”
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SMA is a genetic neuromuscular disease that causes muscles to become weak and waste away. People with SMA lose motor neurons in the spinal cord that control muscle movement. Without these, muscles don’t receive nerve signals that make muscles move. “Graham has the most severe type of SMA,” she says. “We were told when he was born there was no treatment and no cure. Typically, if these type of SMA goes untreated, a person doesn’t live past the age of two.” Luckily, the Vollmers enrolled Graham in a clinical trial when he was six months old. “After he was enrolled in the trial, Graham received the first FDA-approved drug for the treatment of SMA,” Vollmer says. “We 100% believe Graham is still here with us because of the drug Spinraza.”
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Graham is now six years old and will start TownePost.com / JULY 2021 / WESTFIELD MAGAZINE / 5
