Hope for Gus began with a family’s hope to find a cure for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

When Gus was born on May 10, 2005, Tonya and Steve Dreher knew their family was complete. They had been blessed with three beautiful children. Even though Gus was five weeks premature, they knew he would eventually catch up.

He was a smart and snuggly baby, late on all of his milestones, but seeming to thrive anyway. When he entered preschool, he started physical therapy to help him “catch up.” Yet he still struggled.

When Gus was four and a half, Tonya made an appointment for him to see a neurologist. To this day, she is not exactly sure why she felt compelled to make this appointment – none of the teachers or physical therapists who worked with Gus suspected anything out of the ordinary – but her gut feeling told her to seek more information.

That appointment spiraled into weeks of testing, fearing the worst, and dreading the unknown. Three weeks later, Tonya and Steve received the devastating news that Gus had Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

After the unbelievable heartbreak and shock, they got to work researching. What they discovered was that there were numerous potential treatments – and maybe cures – out there, but they weren’t being funded.

DMD is often referred to as an Orphan Disease: a disease that has not been adopted by the pharmaceutical industry because it provides little financial incentive for the private sector to make and market new medications to treat or prevent it.

This prompted Steve and Tonya to immediately begin the process of starting their own foundation to raise money and fund research. Hope for Gus was created with the continued hope to save Gus – and all children with DMD.