October 5 th is a special day for our family as we celebrate #PauseForPBD , the annual awareness day for The Global Foundation for Peroxisomal Disorders (GFPD) . [Jeff's birthday also happens to be October 5th but he doesn't seem to mind sharing it with #PauseForPBD day.] Our son, Ethan, is 7 years old and is one of less than 200 children, known to the GFPD, living worldwide with Peroxisome Biogenesis Disorder (PBD). Ethan has a contagious smile and laugh, despite the fact that PBD has caused him to have severe cognitive and physical delays. Peroxisome Biogenesis Disorder (also known as Zellweger Spectrum Disorder), is a rare, genetic condition affecting multiple organ systems in the the body. PBD is generally fatal in childhood. As a parent, it is difficult to express the sense of loneliness and feelings of isolation that enter your life when your child has a rare genetic disease that most people have never heard or and has no cure. However, #PauseForPBD, is a d...
Our son, Ethan, was diagnosed with peroxisomal biogenesis disorder - zellweger spectrum disorder (PBD-ZSD), a very rare genetic disease, when he was just four weeks old. There is no cure for PBD-ZSD and treatment is symptomatic. This is our family's journey.