Instead of the usual end of the day roundup, we all felt strongly that we wanted to relay some upsetting news that comes to us from DeSoto Records. Local recording engineer and indie rock luminary J. Robbins and Janet Morgan have learned that their son Callum, born early this year, has been diagnosed with Type 1 Spinal Muscular Atrophy. From the DeSoto page about Cal:

The facts are brutal: SMA kills kids. The disease affects the brain’s ability to communicate with the voluntary muscles that are used for activities such as crawling, walking, head and neck control, breathing, and swallowing. Type 1 SMA is usually fatal; most Type 1 babies will die before their second birthday. Those infants who survive into childhood are in for a long road of occupational therapy, wheelchairs, and assistive devices. Despite years of work on its treatment and “ongoing promising research,” it has no cure.

This is the sort of stuff that wrenches our guts, and our hearts go out to J., Janet and Cal. Even more heartbreaking is that conventional medicine can offer little assistance to children who suffer from this disorder. And families seeking what comfort or improvement alternative therapies can offer must do so at their own (considerable) expense. On top of the emotional tolls the serious illness of a child can take, the financial outlook for a modest single-wage family can be daunting to say the least.

DeSoto has set up a PayPal site for donations, in an effort to aid the family in whatever way they can as they seek treatment for Cal. General donations to aid the search for more effective treatments or a cure for SMA can be made through the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation. We send the family, as well as all of those dealing with this disease, our best wishes.