Tears flow, hope swells on Dustin’s walk for DMD

Valerie Leung

A Richmond family was brought to tears a�er around 100 people a ended a 3.3-kilometre walk to raise funds for a common fatal form of muscular dystrophy on Sunday a�ernoon

Dus n Haraguchi, age five, was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) in February 2022, “a hard diagnosis to receive” described Erika Haraguchi, Dus n’s mom

DMD is a gene c disorder primarily affec ng young boys It is a degenera ve disease that causes muscles to weaken progressivelyandthefunc onsofvitalorganstodeteriorate,leading to shorter lives

Groups of families, friends, classmates and sports club members joined the Haraguchi family in the grass field outside of Manoah Steves elementary for the Sunday event

“It’s unbelievably difficult and amazing at the same me,” said Erika.

“The school and the community have been so suppor ve the en re way.

“We know that there’s no cure currently, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be (in the future). So doing things like this (fundraising walk) gives us hope”

She said the family plans to organize the walk every year to keep spreading the word about DMD and fundraise for a cure

“It is so beau ful to see everyone coming out to not only support Dus n but also other kids who are diagnosed with this disease,” said Erika, as she wiped her tears

“I want this to be a fun thing I’m hoping the kids will want to come back and be like ‘Hey, remember we did that walk?’ and keep this going.”

The event was organized by Michelle May, Dus n’s aunt and Erika’s sister.

She described her nephew as “a light in this world” with an infec ous smile and a sweet and caring personality and hoped to reflect just that through the event by giving back to Defeat Duchenne Canada, which supports Dus n and other kids like him across the country.

Erika told the Richmond News that there were no signs or symptoms of Dus n having DMD un l he was just shy of his fourth birthday

“Our whole world kind of came crashing down at that moment, but since then, we’ve been able to take it day by day and he’s happy,” she said

Dus n will be a ending Kindergarten in September and while Erika doesn’t “feel ready” she believes her son is