Daily living

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…

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…

Home-based administration of Pombiliti plus Opfolda (cipaglucosidase alfa/miglustat), an approved combination therapy for late-onset Pompe disease (LOPD), appears to be safe for certain adults with LOPD, according to a pooled analysis from three clinical trials. In reviewing more than 9,000 treatment doses given to about 150 patients worldwide…

When our daughter Caroline was diagnosed with Pompe disease through newborn screening in 2018, our world turned upside down. We were suddenly lost, searching for answers amid a flood of tests, labs, and medical opinions. We chose to start enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) within her first 12 months.

Orthodontic treatment successfully addressed speech and swallowing problems in a young girl with infantile-onset Pompe disease (IOPD), according to a case report from Italy. “The approach outlined in this paper serves as an illustrative example of orthodontic treatment for addressing speech and swallowing difficulties in patients with Pompe Disease,”…

This summer, for the first time, I made a big decision to reach out for help for my oldest son, Cayden, who is 7 and was born with infantile-onset Pompe disease. A nurse attends school with him every day during the school year, but in the past, I’ve declined…

A test that measures walking speed over 10 meters (33 feet) offers a simpler and less demanding alternative to the commonly used six-minute walk test for evaluating walking performance in Pompe disease, and may be a better option for patients who have difficulty covering longer distances. In a French…

My 7-year-old son, Cayden, started seeing a gastroenterologist (gastrointestinal, or GI, specialist) when he was just a baby. Cayden was diagnosed with infantile-onset Pompe disease when he was 1 month old, becoming the first baby in Pennsylvania to be diagnosed with the condition via newborn screening. After the…

Sean Doerr is sometimes known in the Pompe community as the man with the ambulance-turned-motor home, which he affectionally calls the “PompeTrek.” Sean has Pompe disease and type 1 diabetes. I recently spoke with him via video chat about what it’s like living with these two chronic illnesses. Excerpts…

Ever since he was an infant, my son Cayden, who’s now 7, has needed to use orthotic devices. He was diagnosed with infantile-onset Pompe disease via newborn screening, and these devices seem to be common among that community. His journey with orthotic devices started when he was a few…