GoFundMe Aims to Raise Funds for Aurora Seven-Year-Old with SMA

Aubrie Hall loves the outdoors and the fundraiser will help her get around more easily.

Aubrie Hall. GoFundMe photo.

(Aurora, Ind.) - Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a hereditary disease that can damage and kill specialized nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.

There are varying types of SMA and symptoms vary. They may be mild or disabling but involve a weakness of the muscles that control movement, including shoulders, hips, thighs, and upper back.

For Aubrie Hall, a seven-year-old from Aurora, she suffers from SMA Type I, which is usually evident before six months of age.

The most severely affected children will have reduced movement and chronic shortening of muscles or tendons (contractures). Other children may have symptoms including reduced muscle tone, lack of tendon reflexes, twitching, skeletal abnormalities, and problems with swallowing and feeding. Without treatment, many affected children die before age 2.

When Aubrie was first diagnosed, the Hall’s learned that the first ever treatment for SMA had just been approved by the FDA three days prior. It took Cincinnati Childrens about six months to get the treatment available, and Aubrie, at around age one, was the first person to receive the outpatient version of the treatment at Cincinnati Childrens.

Aubrie’s father, Robert, who serves as the office manager at Hummel Insurance in Lawrenceburg, tells Eagle Country 99.3 that all of Aubrie’s doctors are in awe of how she is going and her main doctor says she is rewriting the book on how SMA kids are treated by the hospital.

He added that he and his family are “just trying to give her the best life we can give her.”

“She enjoys the same things as we all do. Our family likes to go camping and see all the beautiful things in nature, and now that she is getting bigger it is harder and sometimes painful to get her to the places we all want to go,” said Hall.

Extreme Motus Off Road Wheelchair. GoFundMe photo.

That is why the Hall’s have created a GoFundMe to raise funds to purchase an all-terrain wheelchair.

“We found the all-terrain wheelchair and it is going to let us take on the great outdoors in a way that is comfortable and safe for Aubrie,” said Hall.

The fundraising goal is $5,000 to purchase an Extreme Motus Off Road Wheelchair. See what the wheelchair can do at https://www.extrememotus.com/

“Next year, we hope to have this amazing piece of equipment available to make our future adventures more memorable than ever,” Hall added.

To make a donation, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/extreme-motus-all-terrain-wheelchair-for-aubrie?utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet-first-launch&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer.