Austin's Story: Leaving a gift in your Will

“I want to make sure boys like me can walk, run and play…”

Austin, 11 - gamer, football fan, and living with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

When Austin was born, his mum Maxine had a feeling something wasn’t quite right. He was an unsettled baby, and as he grew, his speech and movement didn’t develop as expected. But nothing could prepare the Foster family for the diagnosis they received when Austin was just two years old.

Austin has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a rare, progressive and life-shortening genetic condition that causes muscles to weaken and waste away. It almost exclusively affects boys, and over time, it robs them of the ability to walk, move, and eventually, to breathe.

There is no cure.

“It was devastating,” Maxine recalls. “Being told Austin’s life would be cut short… the grief was immediate. But researching clinical trials gave us a way to fight back.”

Austin joined a trial at Great Ormond Street Hospital, and later, Leeds Teaching Hospitals offered another opportunity - a study led by a pharmaceutical company. These trials are only possible thanks to gifts left in Wills to Leeds Hospitals Charity, which helped fund the Clinical Research Facility where Austin receives treatment, and the post of his consultant, Dr James Foley. Another legacy gift, alongside support from Duchenne UK, funded a new research trials coordinator within the paediatric neurosciences team.

Read more: New TV ad shows how gifts in Wills fund life-changing research at Leeds Teaching Hospitals

Though it’s an eight-hour round trip from their home in Norfolk, the Foster family never hesitate. Every journey is a step closer to hope.

Now 11, Austin has bravely undergone over 130 infusions. He knows he’s helping pave the way for other boys with DMD - so that one day, they might run, jump, and kick a football.

“Austin is losing the ability to walk right now - and that’s a transition we’re all finding incredibly difficult,” Maxine shares. “But we choose to pull together. DMD means Austin’s life will be limited, but together, I believe we can change that.”

Read more: Charities donate over £300k to fund cutting-edge research at Leeds Children’s Neuromuscular service

You can be part of that change.

By supporting research at Leeds Teaching Hospitals, you can give families hope - hope for more time, and for a future where a diagnosis like Austin’s doesn’t mean a shortened life.

Your kind gesture today could lead to a cure tomorrow.

Find out more about continuing your legacy through empowering research.

Small or large, your gift will help improve health and wellbeing for patients and families in Leeds, across Yorkshire and beyond.

Leave a gift in your Will