PHOENIX (AZFamily) —As we head toward the new year, the medical advances just keep coming for the muscular dystrophy community. New treatments and therapies are being approved to help families battling muscular dystrophy.
Something new this year is the Muscular Dystrophy Association scholarship program. Its first recipient is just a few months away from graduation and plans to pay it forward.
Serena Desiderio will graduate from the University of Arizona this May, where she’s studying physiology and medical sciences. She plans to attend physical therapy school after graduation and has been accepted into every school she’s applied to.
Desiderio was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy just a few years ago in high school at age 14.
“I wanted to go on Accutane for acne, and for that, they have to do blood test,” said Desiderio. “They saw that my enzyme levels were super high, and so they thought that that was really peculiar and referred me to a neurologist. He did some genetic test and found out that I had muscular dystrophy. And from then, my life just completely changed.”
Desiderio’s family was also in shock. “When they first started talking about the possibility that it was a muscular dystrophy, the family- we were all in disbelief,” said Kat Greacen, Desiderio’s mother. “How could that be? She’s always been freakishly athletic and strong.”
Limb-Girdle muscular dystrophy wasn’t something they’d ever heard of. Desiderio began to feel the impact more once she got to college.
“When I got to campus, it was kind of a little bit of a shift,” said Desiderio. “I really wanted to be like everyone else, walking to all the football games, going to all the basketball games. A little bit further down the journey, I realized I couldn’t do that, and that wasn’t going to be good for my body. And so I had to accommodate what my body needed, and so I started using my accessibility scooter.”
This year was also made a bit easier thanks to the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s scholarship program.
“It means everything, the scholarship. It does change peoples lives, not just with finances but it’s made me more confident in my community and more passionate for advocating for others.”
The scholarship provided Desiderio with financial support, while the MDA provided her with community. The diagnosis gave her a new direction for her career goals and a gift of extraordinary empathy.
“When I was volunteering at a clinic this past summer for people who had neurological conditions like Parkinsons, MS, even some MD patients, there was one case that really stood out to me,” said Desiderio. “There were two siblings diagnosed with a form of muscular dystrophy. And their mom was in the room with us and she was very concerned about this diagnosis. And it just reminded me how I felt when I got my diagnosis. Just in such shock and disbelief, just crying.”
“And I started crying with her because I knew what that like, and I gave her a hug and a box of tissues and I just said I know what you’re going through, and it’s going to be ok. And that just reinforced that I’m in the right field doing the right thing.”
To support the Muscular Dystrophy Association and the families they serve here in Arizona, go to mda.org.
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