The fire broke out Monday morning at a home on the 4000 block of Ridgeview Circle in McLean, near the Arlington border. While battling the blaze, firefighters found a man deceased in a second floor bedroom.
The victim has since been identified as Dan Easley, a father of three who was in his 40s.
A GoFundMe campaign for his family was launched Tuesday and has already raised more than $10,000. More, below, from the campaign’s description.
On Monday, December 11th, a fire destroyed a family’s home in our McLean community and a devoted young father to three elementary and middle school aged children lost his life.
As we mourn the tragic loss of Dan Easley, we want to stand together as a neighborhood & regional community to support Dan’s three amazing children – Owen, Harper and Nathan.
Please consider making a donation to support their Mom Emily as she navigates this new chapter for them and so they don’t have to worry about the near-term and beyond. Let’s stand together as a community and offer the Easley’s our support and comfort as the children mourn the loss of their Dad and his house with most of their childhood belongings. Your thoughtfulness, kindness and generosity mean so much.
The cause of the fire, which is being investigated by Fairfax County’s police and fire departments, has yet to be revealed.
The Smith family, who lost their home in the Bluemont house explosion (via Derek Cole/GoFundMe)
Moment of the house explosion in Bluemont (video courtesy Alex Wilson)
Firefighting operations continue more than an hour after the explosion (staff photo by James Jarvis)
Federal investigators on scene of Bluemont explosion (photo via @ATFWashington/Twitter)
Investigators comb through evidence on the scene of the Bluemont house explosion (staff photo by James Jarvis)
The house at 844 and 846 N. Burlington Street in 2012 (via Google Maps)
(Updated at 11:35 a.m.) When the GoFundMe campaign for the Smith family launched 24 hours ago, it had a goal of raising $50,000. As of publication, it has raised about $140,000.
An outpouring of support for the family that lost everything in the explosion of their Bluemont duplex has been attracting donations from across Arlington, the region and the country. More than 2,000 have donated so far, including individuals and local groups.
“We KW Barrett Elementary kids wanted to support you all,” said one note of support on the fundraising page. “We had a hot cocoa stand to raise funds to help and then added a little extra from us. Hope this helps! Sincerely, KW Barrett Fifth Graders and friends.”
Students at the school in the Arlington Forest neighborhood raised more than $260 yesterday, including from a group of police officers who stopped by, according to social media posts.
Thanks for your support ACPD! The kids raised $264.85 and we rounded up and donated to the family displaced in the tragedy thru https://t.co/W71d8rpNNq. Thank you for the quick response on that scary night.
While they were evacuated by first responders well before the blast, knowledge that the family of four had all of their possessions and physical memories go up in flames prompted people to almost immediately start asking — in comments and social media — how they could support them in their time of need.
Thus stepped in local real estate agent Derek Cole, close college friend of Lance Smith from their time at Oklahoma State in the mid-1990s.
While the family is “not speaking to media at this time,” Cole said, he noted that they “have enjoyed calling Northern Virginia home for many years.” They had extensively renovated their side of the duplex, he wrote on GoFundMe, “working tirelessly to create a special home for their children to flourish.”
“Thankfully, the Smith family and their their sweet dog, are alive, healthy, and very much together,” Cole wrote. “Because of the explosion,” however, “the Smith family sadly lost all their worldly possessions.”
“It is the goal of their friends and loved ones to see the Smith family get back to normal as best they can following this horrible tragedy… especially, as we approach the holiday season,” he wrote. “Please join us in supporting the Smith family as they work to restore balance in their lives and focus on their incredible family, while we also respect their privacy.”
Cole told ARLnow that he was unsure how the funds raised on GoFundMe would be used, saying that it depends on what their insurance covers.
The family’s duplex neighbor, 56-year-old James Yoo, is presumed dead in the explosion, which followed an hours-long standoff with police. Yoo suffered apparent mental health problems and three days before Monday’s incident had posted a paranoid rant against the Smiths on his LinkedIn account.
It is still not clear what triggered the massive explosion, which is being investigated by both Arlington County authorities and federal law enforcement.
Sen. Mark Warner visits the Melwood Disability Services facility in Arlington Sept. 22 (courtesy of Office of Sen. Mark Warner)
(Updated at 4:10 p.m.) A local nonprofit specializing in job placement for disabled individuals is drawing on federal funding to expand its services.
Melwood Disability Services, a Maryland-based organization that operates a facility in the Aurora Highlands neighborhood, has received a $307,000 federal grant aimed at expanding enrollment in its 14-week neurodiverse job training program, abilIT, by subsidizing associated costs.
On Friday, Sen. Mark Warner (D) and Rep. Don Beyer (D) visited Melwood’s facility near Pentagon City and presented the nonprofit with a ceremonial oversized check.
Jewelyn Cosgrove, president of Government and Public Relations at Melwood, told ARLnow that 78 individuals participated in the abilIT program from July 2022 to June 2023. She noted, however, that the newly acquired federal grant, in combination with ongoing fundraising efforts, will enable Melwood’s Virginia facility — acquired in 2017 through a merger with Linden Resources — to double its enrollment of people with disabilities in the job training program.
“We will serve an additional 80 people next year with just what we have in normal funding available,” she said. “The [federal] grant allows us to add 30 people, so next year, because of the grant funding…we’ll be hitting, I think, 110 to 115 total people served.”
Melwood, which also provides a range of services from affordable housing to horticulture therapy and family support services, also received a $500,000 federal grant in July to support its neurodiverse job training program in Maryland.
Cosgrove clarified the two grants are separate and the $307,000 will go exclusively toward helping offset the costs, such as curriculum, of operating abilIT.
Within the last year, abilIT has helped dozens of people secure employment through several prominent private and public sector employers, Cosgrove said, such as MITRE and Falls Church-based Enabled Intelligence.
“It’s a program that really blends [professional and personal skills training] together to help job candidates… get an industry recognized certification and then go on to employment,” she added.
Washington Capitals will host 2023 charity “garage sale” at MedStar Capitals Iceplex in Ballston (courtesy of Washington Capitals)
(Updated at 4:05 p.m.)Looking to score some Washington Capitals gear and give back?
The hockey team is hosting its first-ever charity “garage sale” this Saturday at MedStar Capitals Iceplex (627 N. Glebe Road) in Ballston, featuring everything from bobbleheads to T-shirts, posters and hats. Players will not have personal items for sale, we’re told.
The credit card-only sale is open to members of the general public from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. but season ticket holders will have early access from 10-11 a.m.
All proceeds will benefit the team’s charitable arm, Monumental Sports & Entertainment Foundation, and its “work in the community with nonprofit partners from across the region,” team spokeswoman Megan Eichenberg said.
This includes the “Family-to-Family” program, where the team “adopts” families in need, and “KABOOM!,” which has built 11 new playgrounds in the D.C. area since 2013 with support from the foundation.
Today (Monday), the same foundation also announced it would be donating $75,000 across nine nonprofits that work to make hockey in the D.C. area more diverse.
Before or after perusing the garage sale, Eichenberg said fans will be able to watch the Caps practice ahead of the season opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Capital One Arena on Friday, Oct. 13.
Michele Fleming and her son Spencer host a lemonade stand to raise money for childhood cancer research (courtesy of Michele Fleming)
(Updated 12:07 p.m.) Michele Fleming says losing a child to cancer is the “hardest possible thing you can imagine.”
Though Fleming is still reeling from the loss of her 18-year-old son Nathan, who lost his battle with cancer in 2019, she has used that grief to raise more than $300,000 toward childhood cancer research.
“It’s honestly still very hard to talk about,” Fleming told ARLnow. “But doing this — trying to help other kids in Nathan’s honor — is very healing.”
Following Nathan’s passing, Fleming founded Nathan’s Cancer Slayers in 2020 in collaboration with Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, an organization created in memory of 8-year-old Alexandra “Alex” Scott, who died of cancer in August 2004.
Since establishing Nathan’s Cancer Slayers, Fleming and her nationwide team of hundreds of volunteers have collectively raised $310,759 by hosting lemonade stands and participating in the annual “Million Mile” event, where participants of all ages log miles walked, bicycled or run throughout September to raise funds for children with cancer.
This weekend, she will be hosting another lemonade stand at Beyer Volvo in Falls Church and other local vendors have pledged to donate portions of their sales this month.
Fleming aims to raise $100,000 by the end of this year. The money would fund ongoing research by Drs. Jeff Toretsky and Aykut Üren at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. Toretsky was also Nathan’s oncologist.
For years, Toretsky and his colleague Üren have worked to find better drug treatments for rhabdomyosarcoma, a type of cancer that develops in voluntary muscles that control movements, such as those in arms and legs. Nathan had been diagnosed with alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, which commonly affects large muscles in the torso, arms and legs.
While Toretsky said he and Üren have made progress, one of the main challenges in pediatric cancer research is finding funding to develop a drug treatment for a specific type of cancer.
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 400 to 500 new cases of rhabdomyosarcoma are diagnosed each year in the United States. The majority of these cases occur in children and teens, with over half affecting children younger than 10 years old. Rhabdomyosarcoma constitutes about 3% of all childhood cancers.
Because these numbers are so low, Toretsky said it is difficult to get grants from drug makers to fund the research, noting Fleming’s fundraising is a primary reason why he and Üren have been able to continue their research.
Nikki Reed, her husband Mike, and two children, Sylvia and Eli (courtesy of Nikki Reed)
It started out as an ordinary day, like any other.
Nikki Reed, her husband Mike, and their two young children, 5-year-old Sylvia and 6-month-old Eli, were spending their Fourth of July at the pool when Reed began to feel dizzy.
Thinking she was just dehydrated, Reed went home, took a cold shower and drank plenty of water. But the dizziness persisted.
That night, she struggled to remove her contacts and earrings with her left hand. The following morning, she had difficulty holding Eli and her left arm felt numb.
After seeing her primary care physician and physical therapist, she was told it may be a pinched nerve due to carrying her baby. On their advice, Reed went to the emergency room for more tests.
After a CT scan, Reed received her results via email as she sat alone on a hospital gurney in the hallway. She had a rare and aggressive brain tumor, later diagnosed as glioblastoma.
In a matter of days, Reed’s life would take an abrupt turn.
“I went to the doctor on July 5. I went to the hospital on July 6. I had a brain biopsy on the 8th and the surgery [removed the tumor] was a couple of days after that,” Reed, an art teacher entering her seventh year at Tuckahoe Elementary School, told ARLnow.
A long road ahead
While the neurosurgeon successfully removed about 95% of Reed’s rapidly growing tumor, she still requires radiation and chemotherapy to eradicate the remaining cancerous cells.
Reed has been undergoing treatment since July that will continue through the end of the September.
Although glioblastoma is not curable, Reed said it is treatable.
The National Brain Tumor Society says glioblastoma “is one of the most complex, deadly, and treatment-resistant cancers.”
The five-year survival rate stands at about 7% but, on average, patients diagnosed with glioblastoma are expected to survive about eight months.
These statistics are sobering. Still, Reed remains hopeful, declaring on her online blog she plans to “fight like hell” to be here for her family.
“I told my oncologist, ‘I hear you saying that it’s treatable but not curable. Tell me about someone you’ve treated,’ and he said, ‘I’ve treated people that are here 10 to 15 years later.’ I said, ‘Okay, keep me alive because 10 to 15 years is a lot of time for medical advancement. Let’s do what we can to keep me here,'” she told ARLnow.
‘I can do hard things’
In the months following her diagnosis, Reed said her her parents relocated from Richmond to Fairfax to be closer. Many of her friends and colleagues have also helped raise funds to assist with the mounting medical bills and other expenses.
“We have a lot of medical expenses… we have childcare costs, food, medical. Yeah, all those things — because insurance doesn’t cover literally anything,” she said. “I’m a teacher. Mike works for the government. Like, we’re not bringing in that much cash on our own. All of this is just unexpected.”
To date, Reed’s community has rallied to raise approximately $32,000 through a GoFundMe campaign and the sale of t-shirts bearing the message “I can do hard things” on the front.
The future home of Arlington Independent Media’s podcast and broadcasting studios in Green Valley (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
(Updated at 6:30 p.m. on 08/25/23) Arlington Independent Media is seeking sponsors for a free community event it will host early next month.
Arlington’s public access TV channel, its community radio station and a media training provider is throwing its first-ever “MusicFest.” The event, on Sept. 7, from 5:30-10 p.m. at its Clarendon studios at 2701 Wilson Blvd, will have live music, food and drinks and vendors.
Ahead of the event, the organization is seeking individual donations as well as sponsors, who can get perks such as logo placement, free beer and wine and radio announcements on WERA 96.7 FM for contributing $1,000 to $5,000.
The event comes as the Arlington County Board is encouraging the organization to vary its funding sources. The fundraiser coincides with AIM’s 40th anniversary and will “honor our legacy as Arlington’s premier community media center and to celebrate AIM’s exciting future at the forefront of media arts,” per a letter to supporters.
“Arlington Independent Media has witnessed tremendous growth in 2023,” it continued. “We have been continuing the build-out of our new podcast/broadcasting multimedia studios at our South Arlington location, pioneering our new youth-centered journalism initiative, upgrading our cabling system and reimagining our training and membership programs.”
The new studio, located in Green Valley, is set to have a ribbon-cutting on Oct. 20, AIM CEO Whytni Kernodle says. As for the Youth Journalism Initiative (YJI) vaunted in the letter to prospective sponsors, she says 10 students have come through the program. Another 20 participated in a Youth Journalism Club that AIM hosted with Arlington Public Library and 35 attended a camp intended to prepare them for YJI.
Kernodle, who has made a commitment to racial justice part of her mission as AIM’s leader, says the organization is changing its selection process for training programs to uplift marginalized voices. It is also looking to make membership free so people do not feel excluded based on cost.
Next month’s fundraiser could offset the financial impact of striking membership fees and bigger financial headwinds AIM faces. For instance, a once-reliable funding source — a cable franchise agreement, which provides funding based on local cable TV subscription numbers — become increasingly unpredictable.
After years of trying to lessen AIM’s reliance on tax dollars for operating expenses, the County Board approved a 33% increase its support to the organization in the Fiscal Year 2024 budget, giving it $506,579.
Still, the County Board wants AIM to demonstrate it can fundraise and clean up its budget.
The organization’s federal Form 990s are behind schedule and a profit-and-loss document ARLnow reviewed from 2018-2021 shows the organization had lost more than $345,500 between 2018-2020. A copy of AIM’s 2022-23 fiscal year budget, which ARLnow also reviewed, appears to show AIM is working on meeting the Board’s directive.
In all, AIM took in $1.3 million this immediate past fiscal year, which ended in June, up from $564,587 last year. This includes a 30% increase in unrestricted grant funds, a $35,000 increase in revenue from underwriting sponsors, and new revenue from camps and studio fees.
Still, more than half of the $750,000 increase comes from an infusion of “restricted grants” equivalent to the Public, Educational and Government (PEG) funding it logged: $433,054. The sudden infusion, earmarked for capital expenses, came after three fiscal years in which no PEG funds were allocated, per the profit-and-loss statement.
Laura Resetar embarks on one of her runs for cancer research (courtesy of Laura Resetar)
South Arlington resident Laura Resetar is going the distance for people battling cancer.
She is running 100 miles in 10 consecutive days while raising money for the American Cancer Society.
“I just wanted to do something to give back, and feel even the slightest ounce of discomfort that everybody battling cancer is feeling every single day,” Resetar told ARLnow.
The Fairfax County native began her daily 10-mile runs around Arlington and D.C. on Saturday. For Resetar, the cause is deeply personal. Her father has been battling bladder cancer for the past five years and her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year.
“Through their journey, I’ve seen how challenging it is for them and everybody else in the cancer facility where they’re being treated, and I just wanted to do something to honor them and everybody else that’s fighting this disease,” Resetar said.
Donations from friends, family and strangers have already surpassed her $1,000 goal. She had raised around $1,400 so far, as of publication.
In challenging herself to running 100 miles, Resetar said she aims to go a step beyond fundraising.
“It’s easy to just hit reshare on Instagram, but it’s a completely different thing to actually put your words into actions,” Resetar said.
The Virginia Military Institute graduate regularly takes advantage of Arlington’s trails as a way to stay active and destress as her parents undergo treatment.
On top of raising awareness for cancer research, Resetar says that she hopes her challenge encourages people to take a closer look at their own health and take more preventative measures against cancer and other diseases.
“[Running] is so calm and peaceful and such a great stress reliever,” Resetar said. “And I think when you’re so close to home with battling cancer and everything, it kind of puts your own health into perspective.”
Resetar plans to complete her last 10-mile run next Tuesday, with hopes of further exceeding her fundraising goal for the American Cancer Society along the way.
Derek Cushman, the teen attempting to beat a world record (courtesy anonymous)
Derek Cushman’s Twitch live stream on day five of attempting to beat a world record (via Wakefield Rowing/Twitch)
Some of Wakefield High School’s crew team (via Wakefield Rowing/Instagram)
As Derek Cushman rowed for the ninth hour of the day, he responded to ARLnow’s questions between heavy breaths from exhaustion via a Twitch chat box.
The recent Wakefield High School graduate has been rowing on a machine in his living room for six days now, in an attempt to beat the current men’s world record for 1 million meters rowed by someone under 19 years old. The record for the age category, set in 2020, stands at 10 days, 13 hours and four minutes.
Cushman has been rowing from roughly 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. since last Friday, July 14, reaching a minimum of 110,000 meters each day in order to stay on track to beat the record.
“I am feeling good. A lot better than I was expecting. I am unbelievably confident that I will beat the current record. I am hoping to beat it by more than a day,” Cushman said.
His attempt to take the world record title is also his way of raising money for the Wakefield High School crew team. Every day, a live stream of Cushman is available to watch on Twitch where viewers can comment, watch him row and scan a QR code to donate.
Cushman said he feels like he owes it to the team to raise the money, as his four years on the roster helped land him a spot on La Salle University’s Division I crew team.
“Wakefield Crew does not have a lot of money. I want this money to be used to pay for kids who do not have the funds to be on the team, but do have the talent,” Cushman said. “I hope I can also raise enough money to help buy the team some new boats or equipment.”
Members of the teen’s family and his friends can often be seen sitting in the living room with Cushman, supporting and distracting him from the pain he said his body is in.
Cushman’s mother told ARLnow that she is very proud of her son and thinks it is impressive that he is dedicated to doing something so intensive.
For his part, Cushman says he is determined to complete his goal, despite how mentally taxing it has been to row every day for 10 hours, with only some momentary breaks.
“This is not something that I have been training for. I was the fastest guy on the team last year so I figured I could beat this record,” Cushman said. “Getting my name in the record book would prove to myself and others that I am an athlete to not forget about. I have the mental toughness to row for days on end and the determination to succeed.”
An event at One More Page with author Jane Harper (courtesy photo)
The interior of One More Page bookstore in East Falls Church (courtesy photo)
Author TJ Klune with One More Page staffers in January 2023 (courtesy photo)
Cocktails and books at a ‘Sip and Swoon’ event at One More Page bookstore in 2019 (courtesy photo)
Loyal fans of One More Page Books in East Falls Church are helping the store keep the lights on — literally.
The bookstore, a staple in the community for 12 years that often works with Arlington Public Library and local schools, recently held a fundraiser to help pay for needed maintenance and to help the shop stick with its current slate of publisher vendors.
As of Monday evening, the well-loved bookstore at 2200 N. Westmoreland Street raised nearly $36,000 — surpassing its $35,000 goal — from some 400 donors over the course of 10 days. The largest was an anonymous $2,500 donation.
“We are overwhelmed with the response and the words of encouragement from our customers and the community,” owner Eileen McGervey told ARLnow. “It is difficult to ask for help and then to have such a rapid response is humbling.”
McGervey says she wishes the funds would go toward something “fun and exciting,” but instead it will go to fixing its lighting and HVAC system.
“About a third of our ceiling lighting units are no longer working, so there are certain parts of the store that are dark,” she said.
The funds will also make One More Page whole after paying for recent repairs to its air conditioning unit and plumbing.
“Since the overflow pan is in the ceiling, we have had water come down into the store — books and water are not a good mix,” McGervey said.
Any money leftover could help pay for “a few fun ideas for the store design,” she says.
McGervey says the bookstore is cutting costs where it can but that applies to future expenses, not those the store has already had to incur. In addition to fixing the AC unit, that includes ongoing costs associated with maintaining its website, which was upgraded during the pandemic to facilitate online ordering.
“The profit margin for small businesses is notoriously small, and over time, even new small expenses or slight revenue dips add up,” she wrote in the fundraiser. “And, like all of you, our rent and other expenses continue to rise.”
When rent rose by 30% in 2019, One More Page also turned to the community, hosting an online auction that ultimately helped it raise $20,374. That money paid the publisher vendors McGervey could not pay after covering rent.
The fundraiser for covering repairs and paying vendors this time around is ongoing. McGervey encourages supporters to continue shopping at the store, in person or online, and at Libro.fm for audiobooks. Supports can also attend events, become a Patreon member and buy branded t-shirts.
With the approach of summer comes a slower event schedule but One More Page does have a launch party scheduled for local author Jonathan Harper, for his book “You Don’t Belong Here” on June 4.
The store is also planning to support Arlington Public Library’s event with author Imani Perry at Central Library on June 22 and to likely host a repeat of its “highly popular” Puzzle Exchange night.
On July 18, the shop will celebrate the release of “The Inner Ear of Don Zientara” with Antonia Tricarico and special guests Don Zientara, Amanda MacKaye and Joe Lally, followed by an event to celebrate the July 25 release of “Ghosted” by store staffer Amanda Quain.
The starting line of the Fairlington 5K benefitting A Cure for Ellie (via Cure LBSL)
Young onlookers at the Fairlington 5K benefitting A Cure for Ellie (via Cure LBSL)
Runners during the Fairlington 5K benefitting A Cure for Ellie (via Cure LBSL)
Young runners pump each other up at the Fairlington 5K benefitting A Cure for Ellie (via Cure LBSL)
A nearly decade-old 5K race through Fairlington supporting a local girl with a rare disease is canceled, possibly indefinitely.
Since 2014, hundreds of Arlingtonians and visitors have participated in the Fairlington 5K, which raises money to fund research for a cure for leukoencephalopathy, or LBSL. The disorder affects the brain and spinal cord of Wakefield High School student Ellie McGinn.
Her P.E. teacher at Abingdon Elementary School initiated the first race in 2014. Since then, her family established the nonprofit, A Cure for Ellie, now Cure LBSL, which supports treatment research and raises awareness about the disease, while the race has attracted those affected by it from as far away as New Zealand.
“It’s been more than I ever could’ve dreamed for,” Ellie’s mother, Beth McGinn, tells ARLnow. “It’s a great community event and brought out the best in everyone here.”
This year would have been the eighth year for the race, but it was canceled due to stepped-up security for local races.
“For the safety and security of participants, spectators and special event staff, ACPD has a longstanding practice of clearing race courses of parked vehicles,” ACPD spokeswoman Ashley Savage said.
Over the last year, organizers of a few regularly occurring races that “did not have clear courses” were notified that by 2023, ACPD would no longer allow these events to occur if vehicles were parked along the race route.
The policy is intended to avoid drivers accidentally or purposefully striking participants. During last year’s race, police had to escort five individuals who inadvertently drove on the race course, despite public messaging and signage, Savage said.
This policy has been around for nearly a decade, according to Kathy Dalby, the CEO of local running store Pacers Running, which has handled race-day logistics for the Fairlington 5K as well as other races around the county.
“This isn’t a new policy, just probably not enforced across the board,” Dalby said. “We have been paying for car removal and meter charges since probably a year after the Boston Bombings, give or take.”
While ACPD offered to work with Beth McGinn to find a solution, she says she just does not see a way forward right now that keeps the race in Fairlington. Too many people use street parking, and relocating the race may result in fewer participants.
“What made our [race] so successful was also its downfall,” she said. “Thanks to the volume and density of Fairlington, we were able to turn out a lot of people. The civic association, the schools and the farmer’s market would promote it. There’s not that buy-in from everybody if I move it to a park.”
She says she understands the perspective of the police department. In addition to the incidents on the Fairlington 5K course last year, there have been a number of incidents in the last three years in which drivers have intentionally driven into crowds at community fundraisers, protests and foot races.
“It’s coming from a good place,” the mother said. “I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt during my race, either… Right now, that’s the world we’re in.”
Although the race is canceled, Beth McGinn says people are still donating to the cause. The race has raised some $130,000 for research, per the race website, while the A Cure For Ellie cause has raised some $2 million, per the Cure LBSL website.
Right now, there are two drugs in clinical development. Beth McGinn says she hopes these could stop the disease’s progression in Ellie’s body and even help her daughter recover some mobility.
The disease has progressed to the point that Ellie uses a wheelchair at school and for long distances. Still, her mother makes sure to count her blessings.
“She’s a happy camper,” Beth said. “That’s a blessing.”
