1 in 46,000

One of Sonzee's CDKL5 sister's mom created the image above.  I saw it circulate in our parent support page about 4 days ago and to be honest I kept scrolling.  I am unsure what deep rooted psychological reason it might be due to, but the "easy" answer is just that it seemed almost unheard of to believe 2 children a week could possibly be diagnosed with CDKL5.  It is rare after all, that number makes it feel much, much, much more common.  I let the image go out of my mind for a bit, and then Friday afternoon I reached out to the mom and asked her more about the statistic.  She directed me to the CDKL5 UK FAQ page and then I reached out to another parent for confirmation.  1 in 46,000. 

1 in 46,000, the amount of innocent children, and by default, their families end up learning the ins and outs of living life with a CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder.  This is based on a reliable testing agency in Europe that estimates incidence.  To be honest after I learned this, it just made me angry.  Why is this number as high as it is?  De Novo mutations are the main kind of CDKL5 mutations, meaning that while genetic, neither mother nor father has the mutation themselves and so "no one is responsible", yet 1 in 46,000 times this is estimated to occur.  Do not get me wrong, 1 in 46,000 is still considered "rare", and for comparison sake, the incidence of Rett Syndrome is 1 in 10,000, but welcoming an average of two new families a week to our CDKL5 family just hurts my heart.

Today, like every June 17 of Sonzee's life I will give homage to this day.  It is bitter sweet as I am grateful we have a designated day due to the advances of science, but angry that such a day even has to exist.  This year, our day of awareness coincides with Father's Day in America, and for the first time since 2015, I have not told my kids that today is awareness day.  We spend every day during the year living, breathing, witnessing, and being aware of the effects and impact of CDKL5, so today we will honor Sam and be thankful that Sonzee has an amazing dad and tomorrow we will back to spreading awareness of CDKL5.



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