Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act Passes the House!

The Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act is making a march through Congress, finally!  The latest incarnation of the reauthorization includes some measure that will improve timeliness of screening.  It was passed by the House and is now headed to the Senate. Contact your Senator to show your support!

TIP - How MCADD Parents Can Better Work With Their Primary Care Physician

I read this interview with Dr. Beaudet from Baylor College of Medicine and was thrilled to see his comment about how well-educated the parents of children with rare disorders can be about their children's condition.  He also gives some good advice on how you can use that knowledge to work WITH your primary care physician.

It's definitely important to note that the physicians who study rare conditions like MCADD are fairly rare themselves.  Therefore, when a primary care physician caring for a child with a rare condition calls that specialist to ask a question, they are usually more than happy to have a conversation.  We should all use this advice to our advantage.

Any Michigan Families?

As a proud alumna of the University of Michigan, I was excited to see that they have been awarded a Challenge Grant from Genetic Alliance to do awareness work for newborn screening!  They are on a quest to catalog family stories about newborn screening for their project and if you live in Southeast Michigan, they'd love for you to participate!  Find out more here!  They need to hear from you by June 15th if you're interested.

The Challenging World of FODs

A fellow Consumer Task Force on Newborn Screening Mom recently wrote an article for CoSozo about her family's experience raising three children with MCADD.

I would love for everyone to take the time to read her article.  I really love everything she has to say!  Thanks Kelly for sharing this with the world!

In case you missed that link, here it is again -- The Challenging World of FODs.