Cooper Wood is a larger than life little boy who was diagnosed with a terminal disease called Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy this year. 

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is a progressive muscle weakening/wasting disease. Dystrophin is the protein that repairs muscles and keeps them healthy. Without this proteins muscles are replaced with fat and scar tissue. Boys with DMD are often in a wheelchair by the time they are a pre-teen and due to lung and heart damage, they do not often survive their 20s. 

There are no current cures and due to the variation of DMD mutation, Coopers only treatment is steroids. Steroids only slow the progression, they will not aid in repairing his muscles. 

This was, until this year when Elevidys, a gene therapy treatment became FDA approved to treat boys that are four years and older. Elevidys delivers a small piece of the DMD gene. These cells will then start repairing muscles. The muscles that have already been replaced with fat and scar tissue can not be repaired but it will begin working on his remaining muscles. That is what makes this a rush. We can sit and wait knowing that every single day our son loses a piece of himself he will never get back. 

He has been medically approved for this one time treatment but is being denied by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. The were sent the pre-authorization on 8/20/2024 and by 8/21/2024 he was denied. Our son is worth more than one day of deliberation. These insurance companies are letting our children sit with death sentences when there are treatments out there but they are not willing to pay the price tag for it. Disabled children are worthy of treatment even if it’s more costly than able-bodied children. Please, sign this petition and show Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan that these children are more than their diagnosis and deserve a fighting chance.