September 7, 2020 is Duchenne Awareness Day.
To honor this day, and all those living with Duchenne, we would love for our community to spread our message of strength with a temporary tattoo. This tattoo is a representation of the 3 exons Fritz is missing, out of the 79 exons that exist in our body to create dystrophin; a protein needed for muscles to maintain their integrity! Any error within these 79 exons causes Duchenne, Fritz's mutation being a deletion of exons 57, 58, and 59. We have chosen to bring attention to Duchenne in this unique way, on this special day, and we hope you will join us!
Don’t forget to share a picture and tag us on Sept 7!
STRENGTH IS MORE THAN MUSCLE, STRENGTH IS OUR COMMUNITY RAISING AWARENESS WITH EVERY INTENTION OF FINDING A CURE!
*Tattoo’s must be purchased no later than Sept 2 to ensure they arrive on time!
A quick Biology lesson
🧬DNA is found in every cell of our body and carries all of our genetic information
👖A section of DNA is called a gene. Each gene is made up of smaller parts called introns and exons.
🧩Individual exons link together to create instructions for making proteins. All the exons fit together like a puzzle.
📖Ribosomes then read the step-by-step instructions so that the body can create the needed protein.
💪Dystrophin is a protein found in muscle cells. It helps strengthen muscle fibers and protect them from injury as muscles contract and relax.
💪👖The dystrophin gene (is the largest gene) contains 79 exons that are linked together to form the instructions for making dystrophin protein.
❌🧩❌Duchenne is caused by mutations or errors to the dystrophin gene, within the exons. Most commonly, one or more exons are missing, and the remaining exons don’t fit together properly. Because of this error in the genetic instructions, cells cannot make dystrophin, a protein muscles need to work properly.
Fritz has a deletion of Exons 5️⃣7️⃣•5️⃣8️⃣•5️⃣9️⃣ causing Duchenne to wreak havoc on his body. So in efforts to raise awareness, honor our fight, and remind ourselves that strength is more than muscle, we choose to put on our body’s what his body is missing.