Portland State University Athletics

In 2019, Portland State Athletics Fiscal Officer Kati Falger and husband Joe experienced a family's worst nightmare: a toddler with no symptoms, but has been diagnosed with a disease for which there is no known cure. Kati and Joe admittedly have dreams for their son William that will not happen now. He will lose his ability to walk somewhere around age 10 and not survive his 20s. It's unimaginable. They have found hope in some medical breakthroughs with gene therapy and try to balance that with the reality of not (yet) having a cure. Kati and Joe have felt tremendous support from the Viking Family. Within three days of the diagnosis, Head Men's Basketball Coach Barrett Peery was at Kati's house praying over William in his crib. Head Football Coach Bruce Barnum regularly checks in and gives bear hugs every chance he gets. The Falger Family and Portland State Athletics staff have all felt this diagnosis, with many new moms in the department that feel this pain in a real way. After the shock of it all, we need some action.

We are learning more and more about William's future and what's next. This is what we do know. He will get AFO leg braces to sleep in and help stretch his calf muscles. He will at some point be on a steroid regimen that will continue his whole life. We will think more about this after the pandemic. We have clinical trials we can consider, but the real hope is in gene-editing therapies. William has a duplication of exons 12-20 and we hope we can "rewrite" that error allowing his muscles to get dystrophin. His duplication is rare. William might be the fourth patient in the world to have this duplication, ever.