The amazing Katie Myers and her son Kaden (9 months). Katie had a healthy pregnancy with Kaden following an early miscarraige. After her loss she found it difficult to relax and near the end found herself in labor and delivery because she wasn't feeling Kaden move as much as usual. She was induced at 39 weeks because he wasn't moving at all anymore and was able to have an uncomplicated natural delivery. She struggled with breastfeeding early on and had constant mastitis and plugged ducts. At about 3 months postpartum Katie discovered that Kaden had a lip and tongue tie and had it laser corrected. Afterwards, she didn't have any more issues but Kaden still wasn't doing well or gaining weight. He was diagnosed with failure to thrive and she was urged to stop breastfeeding and introduce formula or dairy. After all she'd worked through to successfully breastfeed and eliminate allergens in her diet for Kaden, it wasn't an option to stop. She kept seeing the doctor to try to figure out what was happening and was continually told that she was had "new mom syndrome" and there wasn't anything going on with Kaden. He was meeting some milestones but missing others and she just knew they were missing something. Within a 2 week period, Kaden had stopped moving his legs entirely and Katie sought out the help of a neurologist on her own. After some testing he was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). SMA is an an autosomal recessive disease caused by a genetic defect in the SMN1 gene. One in 40 people are carriers of the gene and it affects 1 in 6,000 babies. SMA is the number one genetic killer of infants yet few have even heard of it. Katie has dedicated herself to putting in all the work and love required to ensure that her son has the best life he possibly can. She wants to raise as much awareness as possible for SMA in hopes that treatments and a cure are quickly found. You can read more about Kaden's journey at Kaden's Cure.