John Crowley married his high school sweetheart. In the summer of 1997, they moved from the East coast to Walnut Creek just outside San Francisco. They moved for John’s new job as a financial consultant just after graduation. A few months later, he and his wife Aileen were living with their now three young children in their four bedroom home. John, Jr was three, Megan was 15 months and Patrick was just a week old. Megan had been displaying a lack of upper-body strength, so they brought her to see a doctor. After a series of tests, a doctor informed them that Megan suffered from Pompe’s disease. It is a rare form of muscular dystrophy that affects only a few thousand worldwide. It is caused by an inherited genetic mutation which didn’t have any treatment. They soon discovered Patrick had the same mutation. Doctors told John and Aileen they’d be lucky if their children lived to see their second birthday. Although John had just graduated that summer from Harvard, he owed $140,000 in student loans and had $40,000 of credit card debt. John was determined to find a way to save Megan and Patrick. He took to the web to […]
