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By David Molina STAFF WRITER trophy is’ h that at least one of are these participate in a year- P ical project aimed at improving treatment of the condition. Patsy Chavez said 100 patients will be selected by about the end of October for the project during which a drug used for asthmatics will be studied by medical researchers at the Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus. The project has been scheduled by the university's Neuromuscu lar Clinical and Research Center after a three-month trial with encouraging results at The Uni versity of Rochester (N.Y.) and at Ohio State. Researchers in that trial found that the asthma-fighting drug albuterol improved the condition of patients suffering from the type of muscular dystrophy that *ates to a — acioscapulorium , rH nine or According to the researchers, albuterol possibly could alleviate some of the other known types of muscular dystro ~~ e three Clovis brothers were born with the disease, which is often hereditary. Chavez said none of her sons’ maternal or paternal grandpar ents had muscular day, “so we figure that it might have been there but it was dormant.” Her sons are now adults and two of them, John, 34, and Toby, 33, live on their own. John has an architectural drafting busi ness and Toby helps him, their mother said. The youngest, Ronald, 27, lives with another of her sons, Henry, and needs more personal atten tion than the other two. Chavez, director of the Muscu lar Dystrophy Association’s Clo vis chapter, said all three have submitted paperwork to see if reed participate in the year m that all three will be accepted, but I would be satis fied to see at least one of them make it,” Chavez said. And she adds that she is confident at least one will participate. According to medical muscular dystrophy patients suf fer from flawed muscle tissue. The FSHD type, such as afflicts the three Chavez men, is characterized principally by flawed muscles in the upper torso from the face to the hips. Most notable are flawed facial muscles that prevent the three men from normal movements such as smiling. “They do smile, but it is a very weak smile, almost unnotice able,” Chavez said. Their speech is somewhat affected, she added, but they are still able to commu nicate without much difficulty. In the year-long trial, projected to start in January, the 100 par ticipants will take albuterol at prescribed times and doses. The program calls for them to go to the OSU Medical Center five times during the year. Three of those visits will be as inpatients are two as outpatients. Chavez sai According to the May issue of the medical journal Neurabey, participants in the three albuterol trial showed a 12 cent gain in muscle strength, and gained an average of 2.83 pounds . lean body mass, mostly mus cle. Muscular dystrophy patients have difficulty maintaining weight. The journal goes on to say that the three-month trial did not suggest that use of albuterol for FSHD patients is a cure but rather an improvement. The Chavez family has been instrumental in Muscular Dys trophy Association fund-raising projects, one of which is an annu al carnival staged in the Kmart parking lot. This year the carni val will be held Sept. 6, Chavez said.
Newspaper Details
Clovis News Journal
Clovis, New Mexico, US
Sun, Jul 19, 1998
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Andrea C.
USA 08 Sep 2026
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