Kate’s Take on Rare Care - a Column by Kate Manger

When your child is diagnosed with Pompe disease, it’s like being caught in a storm of information. Suddenly, you’re overwhelmed with medical terms, appointments, and emotions. I remember feeling like I was trying to drink from a firehose. It took me months, perhaps years, to…

One thing I’ve realized as a mom raising a child with Pompe disease is that I never truly know when her condition is on my daughter’s mind. I always know when it’s on mine — when I’m refilling prescriptions, making appointments, planning infusions, or quietly noticing new…

People often ask how my daughter Caroline handles her infusions. The answer changes depending on the season of life we’re in. Sometimes even the day. When Caroline was a baby, accessing her port was so hard. She didn’t understand what was happening — only that strangers held her down…

Tomorrow, my daughter Caroline has an infusion. If you asked her about her summer excitement, she’d talk about the pool. The weather has been beautiful, and we’ve taken full advantage. In these first days of summer, she splashes with friends, races barefoot across the deck, begs for “just five more…

After my daughter Caroline was diagnosed with late-onset Pompe disease, I never imagined how complicated the idea of stability would become for our family. Before rare disease entered our lives, stability felt simple. It was something you wanted, something you worked toward, and something that brought comfort and peace.

Something I never expected about raising kids with medical conditions is how much people rely on appearances to decide who is “sick” and who isn’t. Before rare disease became part of our family, I’m sure I did this, too, without even thinking about it. Most of us do. We think…

When my daughter Caroline was diagnosed with Pompe disease, I knew life would look different. I figured our routines would change, our priorities would shift, and our days would suddenly be filled with appointments, infusions, and medical conversations I never imagined I’d have. What I didn’t expect was how…

When people hear about in vitro fertilization (IVF) after a rare disease diagnosis, they probably think the hardest part is either the cost or the medical side of things. Those parts are definitely overwhelming. But for me, the hardest part wasn’t the science; it was the question that kept circling in…

We’re back in the waiting room at the geneticist’s office. Since my daughter Caroline was diagnosed with late-onset Pompe disease at birth, these appointments have become part of our routine. Today, she’s 7 years old and kneeling on a seat two chairs away from me so she can look…

When my daughter Caroline was diagnosed with late-onset Pompe disease as a baby, we started enzyme replacement therapy before her first birthday. I remember spending what felt like endless hours at our children’s hospital, meeting new doctors and nurses, going through test after test. At first, it was…