PALO ALTO, Calif. (KGO) -- For 9-year-old Kayla, a recent ride on a surfboard at a special program in Santa Cruz, was something of a miracle. Born with a neuromuscular condition called Myotonic Dystrophy, Kayla has struggled just to walk and develop normal muscle function. Her mom, Lisa Harvey says the fight began just moments after her birth.
"You know, they actually said you can choose to pull life support and I was devastated. And I said, 'We don't even know what this is, let's fight and see what we're dealing with first,'" Harvey remembers.
Kayla's progress is being tracked at a unique clinic at Stanford Hospital. It's set up to study and treat congenital diseases that may stretch back generations. In Kayla's case it's at least three generations, including her mom and grandma, Jane Harvey. Clinic director Dr. John Day says treating the family together allows researchers to better gauge the effectiveness of new therapies.
"If everybody is receiving a different treatment, then when we start to introduce a new treatment modality, it's not going to be clear if it's working," says Day.
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