As a child, your life should be filled with weekly soccer practices and carefree Sunday cartoons, not struggling to get up from the dinner table and not being able to walk down the school hallways. No child should suffer from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

According to parentprojectmd.org, “Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is one of the most common muscle disorders diagnosed in childhood. Duchenne’s results in progressive loss of strength and is caused by a mutation in the gene that encodes for dystrophin. Duchenne can be passed from parent to child, but approximately 35% of cases occur because of a random spontaneous mutation. In other words, it can affect anyone. Although there are medical treatments that may help slow its progression, there is currently no cure for Duchenne.”

Even if DMD is one of the most common muscle disorders, it’s one of the last thoughts you will ever have. In the back of every parents mind, it’s almost expected to always worry about the health of your children- no matter how severe the potential problem may be. You hear of all these stories of other children being diagnosed with some specific matter but you never think it would actually happen to your own son. For our family, it did.

It started off as a routine checkup with our doctor on a chilly winter afternoon in February. We were concerned about Marshall not being able to stand up after sitting on the floor playing as it seemed to become difficult for him. A phone call back from the Doctor that evening confirmed what we feared most. Nothing had prepared us for the words to come- we learned Marshall had been diagnosed with DMD.

We, as a family, rally around Marshall due to his ability to light up the room with his always so cheerful laugh and smile. Every day, Marshall has this urgency to learn, whether it be about a subject in school, what’s going on in the U.S., or within the sports world. For a nine year old, Marshall has a knack for sports. He could list off the starting five and bench for every current basketball team along with recalling past box scores of what appear to be just regular games. He’s a devoted Chicago Bulls fan at that. Not to mention a White Sox, Bears, Blackhawks, and Dolphins fan also. While watching sports, Marshall increases his knowledge of the game and always views it as fun no matter the victor (he always wants the games to go into overtime).

On top of this, Marshall’s biggest role models are his brother and sister. All he looks forward to each day is talking to them on the phone and discussing sports with his brother or what he did in school that day with his sister. You better believe that when they’re home from college he’s even more eager to hang out with them, whether it’s playing videogames or baking. Additionally, everyone loves being around Marshall. His teachers and classmates enjoy his presence so much as he has this effect to make each day that much better.

With us as Marshall’s home crowd, it’s our duty to support him in every way possible. By God’s good grace, we take one day at a time and pray that we have another day together. Keep rolling, and yes, rolling as in Marshall’s wheelchair. This truly is one of the Lord’s blessings in disguise. 

Marshall desperately needs an electric wheelchair that he can use to participate on the playground with his friends and in gym class.  He told his Mom recently that he wants an electric chair just so he can go down the court and shoot a basket.  This means he also needs a ramp for his home and and a vehicle to help transport the chair.  

This journey for the Bell family - and especially for Marshall - can be just a little bit easier with our support. Please join us in supporting Marshall.



Click below for more information about Duchenne's.  http://mda.org/disease/duchenne-muscular-dystrophy.