Let’s keep this simple …
Spinal Muscular Atrophy is a neuromuscular condition, which causes weakness to the muscles.
To cut a long story short, people with SMA have an abnormal anterior horn cell which does not convey all nerve impulses from the brain to the nerve fibres, which prevents muscles from working properly. This results in muscles not being used effectively and therefore weaken.
The condition is carried through chromosones with a deffective gene. Both parents need to be carriers for their child to have a 1 in 4 chance of being affected by SMA.
I’ve designed this website to talk very much about the ’social’ side of SMA rather than the medical details. To demonstrate that despite the condition, it is possible to lead an active and fulfilling life.
Many scientific advances have occured whilst investigating SMA over the last few years. The Jennifer Trust for SMA (JTSMA) in the UK and Families of SMA (FSMA) in the US are very much in the forefront of these developments where you can obtain further information.
