Enner Glynn gets rolling for Aidan

At first glance, Aidan Brown is just like any other 10-year-old boy.

He likes hanging out with his mates, playing video games, swimming, and riding his bike.

But the Enner Glynn School student lives with an incurable rare disease called Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD).

“He lives life to the fullest,” says his mum, Nicki. “He’s got the right attitude, he’s determined and always happy.”

DMD is a progressive muscle disease that affects approximately one out of every 3600 baby boys born. There are just five people in the Top of the South with it.

It is characterised by progressive difficulty in walking and performing everyday activities.

This lack of mobility is due to the absence of the protein dystrophin, causing muscles to deteriorate and break down.

Aidan was born with DMD. He was diagnosed at four-years-old, after a two-year battle to get him seen by paediatricians.

“He never met his milestones, never walked like a normal kid. We knew something wasn’t right,” says Nicki.

Last week was the annual appeal week for the Muscular Dystrophy Association of New Zealand, which set down a challenge for Enner Glynn School students to get behind Aidan and roll 1km in distance on any kind of wheels.

So, last Thursday, the school’s 350-odd students dressed in red and white and brought their bikes, scooters, roller-skates, skateboards, and even remote-control cars to get behind Aidan.

Each class had an hour to do nine laps around the courtyard, with most cruising well past the 1km mark.

Nicki says they are in the process of getting a power chair for Aidan so he can get around school more easily.

“It’s a big thing for him to walk all the way to the playground,” she says.

“He gets really tired and fatigued and will have the odd day off as he’s just knackered.”

However, Aidan says he’s always got the energy for his favourite hobby - target shooting, something he is very skilled at.

“He’s blown them all away at the club with a 100.7 score, with the highest score possible being 100.10,” Nicki says.

Unfortunately, the disease will progress, however a drug trial they took part in over in Australia will hopefully slow things down.

Aidan and his family, including his very supportive 13-year-old brother, are travelling to Auckland in November with the Make a Wish team to do Aidan’s chosen activity - a skydive with his mum.

“If he can do it, I can do it,” Nicki says.