Save Our Boy Foundation

Our Mission

Save Our Boy Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing funds for advanced treatments and a potential cure for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), the most common fatal genetic disease diagnosed in childhood (afflicting 1 in 3,500 boys worldwide).

Our Boy Grant

Grant was born in June of 2006, weighing a healthy 7 pounds,12 ounces. He is rarely sick, never has had to miss a day of school, or even take antibiotics. At every check-up, doctors have noted he is the picture of health, and always in the 90th percentile on all the growth charts. He learned to crawl, roll-over, and walk just as you would expect of any healthy boy.

Grant is a precious little boy full of mischief. He loves swimming, Spiderman, puppy dogs, and race cars. Grant loves to try and do everything himself...even it it means spilling orange juice all over the kitchen table and wearing shoes on the wrong feet. He tries his best to keep up with his older brother (although always two steps behind) and copies everything he does. Of course, we wish he didn't pick up some things...like burping at dinner or engaging in high-pitched screaming matches while mom is driving. But, he is a boy and what do you expect. Grant is a joy to have in our lives and he has so much love to share with his friends and family.

Now Our Hearts are Breaking

When Grant was two-years old we began to notice his speech was a little behind, so we started speech therapy. We were told by EVERYONE this was very common, especially in boys, and that he would catch up soon. As Grant's parents, we also became a little concerned that he seemed somewhat clumsy at times and couldn't run very fast. Doctor's assured us he was just fine...most two-year olds are clumsy. Just before his third birthday, we took Grant for a speech evaluation, where one of the ladies seemed concerned about his muscular and well-defined calves (we had always just thought he had nice calf muscles). After the appointment, we went home and immediately began web-searching. To our surprise, we found that a horrible disease...Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy kept surfacing. We took Grant back to several doctors and demanded testing. The results confirmed our greatest fears. Grant was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) just before his 3rd birthday. Grant's calves were not filled with muscle, they were filled with scar tissue as a result of overuse and muscle wasting. This muscle wasting will continue throughout every muscle in Grant's body, including his heart. Over time, he will stop walking, stop moving, and stop breathing if a cure is not found. Currently, DMD is 100% fatal.

We were shocked to learn of Grant's diagnosis, as there is NO family history of muscular dystrophy, and we are not carriers. What happened to Grant is just the random, spontaneous, unfairness of what we call life -- and it CAN happen to ANYONE (1/3 of Duchenne MD cases are the result of a spontaneous mutation.) We have decided to dedicate our lives to finding a cure for this disease...so our Grant and other boys all over the world will have a chance at a long, healthy life.

Although, there is no cure -- yet, there is hope in raising awareness and funds for research to END DUCHENNE!

Grant's Mommy and Daddy,

Heather & Heinrich