Dwayne & Marilyn Drozd: "We did not know that we were carriers of this gene. It is not prominent in our backgrounds. It's a birth defect and not a contagious disease. When Shawn was about seven months old, we noticed he was not where he should have been developmentally. After numerous visits to doctors and specialists, in February 1997 Shawn was diagnosed with Tay-Sachs disease. He is missing an important enzyme in his brain, which allows the build-up of fatty nerve cells.   Because the enzyme isn't there to do its job, eventually the nerve cells are destroyed.  Currently there is no treatment or cure for Tay-Sachs. Genetic research is being done in the very earliest stages on mice. It's come a long way since last year, but not long enough for Shawn. We are going to help the research efforts."  For detailed information on TaySachs click here.

[Back To The Main Page]