Monday, May 21, 2012

Group to conquer Mount Kinabalu again to raise Duchenne awareness


KOTA KINABALU: A group of climbers committed towards raising awareness of Duchenne muscular dystrophy will be back in Sabah this year to conquer Mount Kinabalu for the second time.

Building on the success of their climb in 2011, Coalition Duchenne will bring over 60 international climbers to scale the country’s highest mountain on Aug 25 to raise global awareness on the disease.

The coalition’s founder Catherine Jayasuriya, whose 19-year-old son Dusty Brandom is afflicted with Duchenne, will once again lead the climb.

At the summit of the 4,095m high mountain, the team will raise the Coalition Duchenne flag in honour of the hundreds of thousands of boys and young men worldwide who have the disease, Jayasuriya said.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a progressive muscle wasting disease and is the most common fatal disease that affects children. Duchenne occurs one in 3,500 male births.

“A total of 20,000 boys are born each year with Duchenne, more than 50 each day. Most only live into their 20s. We lose many in their teens,” she said.

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