Creatine Community Blog

This essay was written by Erin Coller with the support of Laura Trutoiu, Director of Research, and Sangeetha Iyer, ACD Scientific Advisor.

#CreatineDecoded is a quarterly educational essay series that sheds light on research relevant for Cerebral Creatine Deficiency Syndromes (CCDS). The essays feature community contributors, often parents, who with the help of the ACD, explore in their own words the CCDS science you want to know more about. Have a topic in mind? Send suggestions to Laura Trutoiu, ACD Director of Research auract@creatineinfo.org.

Pictured: Dr. Sonja Sucic from the Medical University of Vienna presenting on pharmacochaperoning at the Creatine Deficiency Workshop in Rotterdam in September 2019

Being a CCDS/CTD mom, I understand that it can be very easy to put a huge amount of hope in the idea of prospective treatments. The exciting news is that it’s not just a cliché to say that we can each make a difference. Our individual participation in the research process is vital and necessary to help researchers in the quest to find a cure for CTD. There are researchers around the world working on innovative new ideas for therapies that could really work to help our loved ones. Providing access to patient data is in our hands as parents and caregivers, and it is not an understatement to say that if we don’t do our job, the researchers can’t do their jobs. Continue reading

I recently had the privilege of sharing my family’s GAMT story with a group of professionals from ARUP Laboratories. Continue reading

If you’ve ever wondered how to get involved with advocacy at the ACD and what I’ve been learning from attending conferences, continue reading! Continue reading

When I was faced with the CTD diagnosis of my son, who is now 10, I felt a huge, monstrous, feeling of overwhelming and it never went away. None of this is his fault, but the responsibility, the volume of things that needed to be taught, the learning, the management of appointments, the therapy, medication, and paperwork was a lot to handle and it ultimately fell on my lap as his primary caregiver. Continue reading

When the news came out about Lumos stopping the development of the drug they were working on to treat Creatine Transporter Deficiency (CTD), as a parent, it was a very emotional day and made me realize how important the drug development process is to me, to our family, and to our community. I recalled seeing a presentation at the inaugural ACD CCDS Scientific & Patient Symposium in 2018 regarding the drug development process that was helpful and eye-opening for me as a relative newbie to the world of pharmaceutical drug development.

I was so happy and relieved to find out that the Vigilan study would continue to move forward and that Ultragenyx would take over the role as sponsor of this study. Most recently, Ultragenyx shared an update with our CCDS community regarding their role in the Vigilan study and their CTD clinical development program UX068. This was yet another reminder about all that I have yet to learn about this process.

For my husband and I, participating in the Vigilan study and being involved with the Association for Creatine Deficiencies as volunteers is extremely important to us, and we are so grateful to have opportunities to advocate for our son (Cadman, who is 4 years old and was diagnosed with CTD just before his second birthday), and play a role in the eventual development of a successful treatment for CTD. We have participated in the Ultragenyx online survey on CTD, and it was pretty quick and easy, and great to know we were helping contribute to the knowledge base of the team at Ultragenyx who are working hard to develop a CTD treatment that will hopefully make a meaningful difference in the lives of patients.

It can be overwhelming to try to understand the timeline and terminology involved in clinical drug development, as well as making sense of what all of it means for our son. In this presentation, Dr. Dave Weiner from Lumos does an excellent job of explaining the process. It is definitely worth the time to watch this if you have any questions about the drug development topic.

**Thanks to Erin Coller, ACD Ambassador, for writing this blog post.**

The Association for Creatine Deficiencies (ACD) recently interviewed Christina, a 17-year-old senior in high school, who was diagnosed with L-Arginine: Glycine Amidinotransferase (AGAT) deficiency as an infant to share her story in regards to her diagnosis, why advocacy is important to her, what her hopes are for the future, and more, in honor of Newborn Screening Awareness Month. Continue reading

I had the recent pleasure of attending an event hosted by the Oklahoma Rare Action Network (RAN) Ambassadors, Tamra and Jade. Together with representatives from the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD), Michelle and Rose, they offered an opportunity to engage with staff from Congressman Markwayne Mullins office. Though the Congressman himself was unable to attend, the opportunity to take advantage of his staff member, Josh, being present was very productive in the effort to spread awareness of topics that impact the rare disease community. Continue reading

A phrase I hear quite often is, “I don’t know how you do it.” I don’t always know the correct response, so I usually just smile and take it as the compliment I think they intend it to be. I am not sure what they are seeing from their perspective. Are they seeing Jacob throwing himself to the ground in a temper tantrum? Are they seeing him frustrated when he can’t communicate his needs? Are they seeing me as a frustrated mom trying to do my best with the situation? Are they seeing him as a happy child? I see all of these things.  Continue reading

My fourth Ironman is in the books. Lake Placid, New York is a beautiful place and the trip was amazing. Beth and I chose this location because not only could I participate in the Ironman event, but we were celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary and the venue did not disappoint! We won’t soon forget our time there. Continue reading