Martin and Sigge Stengard, father and son, were visiting from Sweden recently and
shared their inspiring story at the newly-renovated Polly Klaas Community Theater
(https://www.pollyklaastheater.org) at a Petaluma Rotary meeting on July 20 th .
Together they told their story of when the family received the devastating diagnosis for
Sigge of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (or DMD) when he was about 2 ½ years old.
His twin sister, Hedde, was not affected as DMD primarily affects males.
DMD is a progressive muscle disease that slowly breaks down all the muscles in the
body leading to a significantly shorter life. There have been many advances in the
management of DMD, but there is currently no cure.