Kids Health Matters

Anna Hendricksen held her breath and spent hours in suspended hope as pediatric neurologist Randal Richardson, MD, and his team assessed her daughter, Annika, to determine if she met the criteria to participate in the clinical trial for Spinraza ™, also called nusinersen, a drug to treat spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

Pain affects all aspects of life, but for many of us, it’s an abstract concept. But, for a moment, imagine what it would feel like to experience chronic pain for an entire month. Start with that, but now expand it out to a year—or maybe even, every day of your life.

“Knowing that Gillette is a PPMD-certified Duchenne Care Center means the world to us because we know for certain Tyler’s getting the specialized care that he needs," says his mom, Marilyn. Meet Tyler and learn about his family's "game plan" to tackle Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare is playing a key role in the clinical trials and research into the drug Spinraza, also called nusinersen.The drug is being celebrated as the first real hope for people who have spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).